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lULIAN     MONSON     StURTEVANT 
Late  President  of  Illinois  College 


J 


J.  o. 


'^^'^NlNCHA, 


^22  W.   GREEN 


liRBANA,  iLL.^^" 


Julian    M.    Sturtevant 


an  Butobiograpbg 


EDITED   BY 

J.  M.  STURTEVANT  JR. 


-^i^i 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
New  York       .-.       Chicago       .-.       Toronto 

Pttblisliers  of  Eiaitgclical  Literature. 


Copyrighted  1896,  by  FLEMING  H.  Revell  COMPANY. 


f^s^ 


PREFACE. 

The  following  j)ages  were  written  during  the  fall 
and  winter  of  1885,  During  the  previous  summer, 
while  visiting  in  Cleveland,  my  father  was  persuaded 
to  recommence  an  autobiography,  at  which  he  had 
made  a  beginning  with  mother's  assistance,  some 
years  before.  His  son=in4aw,  Mr.  James  H.  Palmer, 
soon  became  his  amanuensis,  and  they  labored  togeth- 
er until  the  work  was  suddenly  interrupted  January 
4th,  1886,  by  illness  and  death.  My  mother  was 
called  to  her  heavenly  rest  January  17th.  Mr.  Palmer 
followed  her  February  1st,  and  my  father  joined  them 
on  the  11th,  of  the  same  month.  A  few  days  before 
his  death  he  requested  me,  at  my  convenience  to 
revise  the  first  draft  of  this  work  for  publication. 
The  work  of  revision,  though  much  delayed  by  cir- 
cumstances over  which  I  had  no  control  and  by  the 
exa.  ^  duties  of  my  profession,  has  been  a  labor  of 
lov  e  autobiography  is  my  father's  own  work, 

ah  together  in  his  own  words.     I  have  ventured 

tc  m  the  concluding  chapter,  a  brief  sketch  of 

th  -art  of  my  father's  life  of  which  he  was  not  per- 
mit 1  to  make  a  record,  with  some  incidents  illus- 
trati:.g  the  character  of  my  parents. 

The  Editor. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  I.     BiKTH,  Paeentage  and  Childhood 13 

Ancestry  —  District  School  —  Freeman's  Meeting  —  Warren 
Church — Preaching  of  Lyman  Beecher — Early  Religious  Im- 
pressions— Uniting  with  the  Church. 

CHAP.  II.     A  New  Home 37 

Financial  Crisis  following  the  War  of  1812 — Migration  to 
Ohio — Richfield — Frontier  Communion  Service — Tallmadge 
— Log»Cabin — Lost  in  the  Forest. 

CHAP.  III.     A  Staktling  Suggestion 54 

Preparing  for  College — A  Swarm  of  Bees  —  A  Revival — 
Building  a  Church  —  Plan  of  Union  Discussed  —  Leaving 
Home — Owen  Brown's  Prayer. 

CHAP.  IV.     The  Pilgeimage 73 

"Ride  and  Tie" — In  Warren  Again — First  Sight  of  Yale 
College — Examination — College  Commons — What  Yale  did 
for  us — A  Struggle  with  Poverty. 

CHAP.  V.     Life  in  College — 91 

College  Prayers  in  1822— Methods  of  Instruction — A  Math- 
ematical Problem — Religious  Influences  —  College  Disor- 
ders— Horace  Bushnell's  Window — Explosion  in  the  Chapel 
— "The  Blue  Skin  Club  " — College  Honors — Pneumonia 

CHAP.  VL     Impeoved  Finances 106 

An  Opportunity — A  Morning  Walk — Final  Examinations — 
Graduation— Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox — Revival  in  New  Canaan 
— "  Coelebs  in  Search  of  a  Wife" — Elizabeth  Maria  Fayer- 
weather. 

CHAP  VII.     Theological  Seminaey 121 

Dr.  Nathaniel  W.  Taylor— Freedom  of  the  Will— Theory  of 


6  COXTEXTS 

Moral  Obligation — "  Self  Love  " — Penalty — Atonement — Bi- 
ble Stadv. 

CHAP.  VIII.     Plans  foe  the  FxrrrBE 133 

A  Field  Soaght — Theron  Baldwin's  Essav — Miss  Caroline 
Wilder — "  The  Illinois  Band" — An  Opening  Found — A  TiVo- 
man's  Consent — Signing  the  Contract — The  American  Home 
Missionary  Society — Ordination, 

CHAP.  IX.     Westwaed  Ho 143 

A  Wedding  Journey — Stage  and  Canal — Niagara  Falls — A 
Woman's  Courage — Tallmadge  Once  More — The  Ohio  River 
— "  The  Father  of  Waters" — St.  Lotiis — A  Hack  for  Jackson- 
Tille — Widow  Gillams — An  Adventure — Jacksonville  at  Last 
—Rev.  John  M.  Ellis  and  his  Wife. 

CHAP.  X.     Feeble    Begixxtngs 1.57 

Jacksonville  in  1S29 — A  Rude  Church — Shocking  a  Western 
Audience  with  a  Manu.-cript — The  Conflict  of  Sects — Peter 
Cartwright — A  Remarkable  Sermon — Illinois  College. 

CHAP.  XI.     Peogbess 166 

Opening  of  the  Institution — Early  Schools  in  Illinois — Ex- 
pository Preaching — Becoming  a  Presbyterian — A  Home — 
A  Vacation  on  Horseback — A  Serious  Illness — Hon.  Sam- 
uel D.  Lockwood  and  his  Wife — The  First  President  of  the 
CoU^e. 

CHAP.  XII.     The  Deep  Snow 178 

Difficulty  of  Securing  a  Charter — Mr.  Beecher"s  Dangerous 
Journey — A  Hard  Winter — A  Great  Sorrow — Old  and  New 
School — Preaching  from  an  Outline — How  Sectarianism  has 
Hindered  Christian  Education. 

CHAP.  Xin.     Enlabgeieests 190 

New  Professors — A  New  Building — Preaching  in  the  Chapel 
— The  Principles  of  Church  Government — Laymen  talk  of  a 
Congregational  Church — The  Plan  of  Union — Tried  for 
Heresy. 

CHAP.  XIY.     Othee  Evests  in  1833-S4 201 

The  Cholera — A  Visit  to  Cincinnati — Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
— Congregational  Church  Organized  in  Jacksonville — New 


CONTEXTS  7 

England  Again — Called  to  Account — Dr.  Wisner — Dr.  Joel 
Hawes — Amherst. 

CHAP.  XV.     The  Negbo 214 

Slavery  in  Illinois — Abolitionism — Elizur  Wright — Murder 
of  Love  joy — Excitement  in  Jacksonville — Anti=Slavery  Sen- 
timent in  College — Dr.  David  Nelson  at  Quincy — Kidnap- 
ping at  Jacksonville. 

CHAP.  XVI.  A  Beight  Pkospect  Ovebclouded.  .  .  .  231 
Rapid  Growth  of  Illinois — Increased  Endowment-^Mania 
for  Land  Speculation — Crisis  of  1837 — Competition — Char- 
ter Secured — Function  of  the  Christian  College. 

CHAP.  XVII.     Gbeat  Changes 239 

Great  Sorrows — Explorations  of  Messrs.  Baldwin  and  Hale — 
Monticello  Seminary — Communing  with  the  Disciples — Or- 
ganization of  the  College  Society — Conference  with  Dr.  Ly- 
man Beecher — Second  Marriage— The  Law  of  Marriage — Re- 
moval of  Edward  Beecher — -Returns  East — A  Brilliant  Circle. 

CHAP.  XVIII.    New  Relations 2.55 

Unjust  Reports — Election  to  the  Presidency — Meeting  of 
the  American  Board — A  Long  Stage  Ride — Dr.  Joseph  P. 
Thompson — A  New  Haven  Club — An  Interesting  Discus- 
sion. 

CHAP.  XIX.     A  Cbisis. 267 

Sacrifice  of  the  College  Real  Estate — Burning  of  the  Dor- 
mitory—  Additional  Professors  —  Brooklyn  Address — -With- 
drawal from  the  Presbyterian  Church — Increase  of  the  Col- 
lege Endowment. 

CHAP.  XX.     The  Peogbess  of  Libeety.  277 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin — The  Republican  Party — Effect  of  the 
Mexican  War — The  "  Free  Soil "  Policy — Difficulty  of  Or- 
ganizing in  Southern  Illinois — Richard  Yates — Abraham 
Lincoln — Correspondence  with  Governor  Yates. 

CHAP.  XXI.     A  Visit  to  England 302 

An  Invitation  —  English  Sentiment  —  A  Breakfast — ^  Sir 
Richard  Cobden  —  Aristocracy  —  English  Abolitionists — A 
Visit  in  Scotland — Heury  Ward  Beecher — Mr.  Joseph  Warne 


8  CONTENTS 

—Bristol — Lay  Preachers — Abington  Beeks. 

CHAP.  XXII.    The  Closing  Yeaes 328 

Return  Home — Death  of  Abraham  Lincoln — Sermon  before 
the  Boston  Council— The  Sturtevant  Foundation — Death  of 
James  Warren  Sturtevant — Letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone — 
Colorado— Retirement — Eightieth  Birthday— Cleveland  and 
Tallmadge— Death  of  Mrs.  Sturtevant— Tribute  to  her 
Memory — Last  Days— Funeral— How  he  appeared  to  His 
Children.    . 


INTRODUCTION. 


I  begin  to  write  this  autobiography  on  the  ninth 
day  of  October,  1885.  I  am  an  octogenarian,  having 
completed  my  eightieth  year  on  the  twenty  sixth 
day  of  last  July.  I  am  perfectly  at  leisure.  My  life 
has  been  consciously  to  myself  a  busy  one.  In  my 
thirteenth  year  I  commenced  a  course  of  study  prej)ar- 
atory  to  entering  college,  with  the  intention  of  devoting 
myself  to  the  Christian  ministry.  Very  soon  that  pur- 
pose became  so  absorbing  and  controlling  that  even 
in  youth  I  was  never  idle,  my  business  being  always 
pressing.  It  was,  first,  to  prepare  myself  for  college, 
then  to  enter  college,  then  to  accomjplish  the  college 
curriculum  as  thoroughly  as  possible,  and  then  to 
obtain  a  theological  education.  Before  completing 
my  studies  for  the  ministry,  I  had  committed  myself 
to  my  life  work  in  Illinois,  and  by  that  covenant  I 
was  bound  till  the  first  of  last  June,  when  I  resigned 
all  connection  with  Illinois  College,  after  fifty=six 
years  of  service. 

I  spent  most  of  the  summer  in  visiting  friends  at  a 
distance,  and  returned  to  my  old  home  a  week  ago,  to 
experience  for  the  first  time  in  my  long  life  a  sense  of 
leisure.  I  have  for  the  remnant  of  my  days  no  master 
but  God,  and  I  hope  the  loving  Father  has  still  a 
little  work  for  my  hitherto  busy  hands. 

I  am  in  good  health  and  have  yet  considerable  en- 
ergy, and  I  must  not  be  idle.     I  shall  be  idle  unless  I 

9 


10  INTRODUCTION 

set  myself  some  task  to  which  my  hours  shall  be  de- 
voted till  it  is  accomplished,  or  till  my  Master  calls  me 
home.  What  shall  this  task  be?  There  are  many 
things  I  have  desired  to  do  which  I  have  not  done, 
and  some  are  so  dear  to  me  that  I  cannot  leave  them 
unaccomplished  without  deep  regret,  esi^ecially  since, 
had  I  been  more  scrupulously  industrious,  I  might 
have  completed  most  of  them.  But  there  is  one 
thing  which  my  most  intimate  and  judicious  friends 
have  often  advised  me  to  undertake,  and  at  which 
I  have  made  some  unsatisfactory  efforts  in  times 
past.  That  undertaking  now  presents  itself  to  my 
mind  with  more  interest  and  hopefulness  than  ever 
before.     It  is  to  write  an  autobiography. 

My  life  seems  to  me  to  have  been  one  of  more 
than  ordinary  thoughtfulness.  I  have  not  only 
thought  much,  but  I  have  thought  independently. 
Some  of  my  friends  have  undoubtedly  imagined  that 
so  much  independent  thinking  in  some  measure 
disqualified  me  for  the  sphere  of  action  from  which 
I  by  no  means  wished  to  withdraw. 

The  truth  is  I  have  thought  intensely  on  many  sub- 
jects, not  particularly  because  I  wished  to  do  so,  but 
because  circumstances  forced  these  topics  ui^on  my 
attention,  I  have  a  strong  desire  before  I  die  to  show 
the  relation  which  has  always  existed  between  my  life 
of  thought  and  my  life  of  action.  To  me  the  former 
has  always  seemed  an  inevitable  outgrowth  of  the  lat- 
ter. One  of  the  best  of  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell's  pub- 
lished sermons  has  for  its  subject,  "  Every  Man's 
Life  a  Plan  of  God."  I  accept  this  conception  as  a 
very  serious  truth,  and  religiously  believe  that  it  ia 
true  in  my  own  life. 


INTRODUCTION  11 

Our  natural  endowment  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  He 
places  us  in  an  environment,  which  will  develop  our 
natural  powers  and  help  us  to  accomplish  His  plan 
respecting  us. 

It  is  always  a  iDrofitable  and  in  old  age  a  very  agree- 
able occupation  devoutly  to  study  the  relations  of 
those  providential  arrangements  which  have  shaped 
our  lives  to  the  development  of  our  powers,  the  forma- 
tion of  our  characters,  and  the  accomplishment  of 
whatever  we  have  been  permitted  to  achieve. 

In  my  own  case,  certainly,  what  I  have  thought  and 
what  I  have  done  have  been  most  intimately  related. 
Had  I  been  a  mere  theorist  and  not  a  man  of  action, 
or  had  I  been  a  servant  of  personal  ambition,  my 
thoughts  would  have  taken  very  different  channels; 
or  had  I  been  forced  to  become  interested  in  the 
same  subjects  which  have  engrossed  me,  I  should 
doubtless  have  reached  very  different  conclusions.  I 
cannot  divest  my  mind  of  the  conviction,  that  if  some 
of  the  wise  and  devout  men  of  my  cotemporaries,  who 
earnestly  resisted  my  oi^inions  or  refused  to  admit  the 
necessity  of  those  ecclesiastical  reforms  for  which  I 
pleaded,  had  been  taught  in  the  same  school  of  ex- 
perience through  which  I  providentially  passed,  their 
views  would  have  been  greatly  modified.  They  might 
at  least  have  understood  how  I  came  to  believe  that 
the  Christian  peoj)le  of  the  past  generation  were 
attempting  the  evangelization  of  our  country  under 
conditions  so  unnatural  and  unfavorable  as  to  render 
any  satisfactory  degree  of  success  impossible.  I  shall 
lay  down  my  life  in  the  full  faith,  that  the  work  so 
important  to  the  world,  will  in  God's  good  providence 


1-2  INTRODUCTION 

be  accomplished  when  a  different  conception  of  the 
Church  shall  prevail.  I  wish  to  place  it  in  the  power 
of  fair=minded,  devout  men  to  understand  the  way 
in  which  Providence  has  led  me.  I  know  not  that 
those  who  are  succeeding  me  will  ever  feel  any 
particular  interest  in  my  history. 

Yet,  it  seems  to  me,  that  an  honest,  religious  man, 
who  in  the  beginning  of  his  manhood  consecrated  his 
life  to  the  work  of  home  evangelization,  on  what  was 
then  the  frontier,  and  who  has  spent  fifty=six  years  in 
endeavors  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  on  the  borders  of  the  wnlderness,  must  have 
learned  lessons  in  the  school  of  experience  worthy 
of  thoughtful  consideration.  But  however  that  may 
be,  I  can  perha^DS  make  no  better  use  of  the  remain- 
ing months  or  years,  if  my  life  should  be  prolonged, 
than  to  spend  them  in  placing  an  outline  view  of  my 
life  on  record. 

J.  M.  S. 


JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT. 

CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD. 

I  am  no  aristocrat.  All  that  I  know  of  my  ances- 
tral history  shows  me  to  be  allied  to  the  lowly  and 
not  to  the  great  of  this  world.  Yet  I  do  believe,  that 
ancestry  is  an  important  element  in  everyone's  his- 
tory. A  year  or  two  ago,  as  I  was  entering  the  lobby 
of  the  church  in  which  I  usually  worship,  one  Sab- 
bath morning,  I  met  a  girl,  with  whom  I  have  been 
acquainted  from  her  infancy,  and  whose  ancestors  I 
have  personally  known  as  far  back  as  her  great= 
grandfather.  As  our  eyes  met,  I  detected  an  expres- 
sion which,  like  a  flash  of  light,  brought  to  my  mind 
the  features  of  a  daughter  of  her  great=grandfather's 
brother,  whom  I  had  known  well  in  my  childhood.  I 
had  not  seen  that  relative  in  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury, and  it  is  probable  that  I  had  not  thought  of  her 
for  more  than  forty  years. 

On  reflection,  I  discovered  that  the  same  family  re- 
semblance could  be  traced  in  many  individuals  scat^ 
tered  through  the  five  generations.  The  exx^ression 
is  quite  unmistakeably,  a  family  type,  and  in  this  case 
the  transmission  was  entirely  in  the  male  line,  though 
the  two  extreme  links  of  the  chain  were  both  fe- 
males. The  whole  number  of  links  was  seven.  The 
number  (five)  of  intervening  links,  corresponds  with 

13 


14  JULIAN  31.  STURTEVANT 

tlie  number  by  which  the  iDersons,  born  in  the  early 
part  of  this  century,  find  themselves  connected  with 
the  first  settlers  of  New  England  in  the  early  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Here  is  positive  proof  that 
types  and  personal  peculiarities  are  difPused  by  he- 
redity over  lines  as  long  as  that  from  the  fathers  of 
Plymouth,  Boston,  Hartford,  and  New  Haven,  to  the 
men  and  women  whom  we  have  personally  revered 
and  loved.  Any  one  of  us  may  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  resemble  in  temperament  and  character,  and 
even  in  features,  our  honored  ancestors,  the  original 
settlers  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  Some  characteristic 
traits  are  certainly  inherited  from  them.  Still  more 
imijortant  does  ancestry  appear  when,  to  the  influence 
of  heredit)^  are  added  transmitted  opinions  and  habits 
of  thought  and  action.  Thus  the  earnest  joatriots  and 
devout  Christians,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
civil  and  religious  institutions,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  have  left  their  impress  upon  the 
whole  line  of  their  descendants.  It  can  be  obliter- 
ated only  by  a  persistent  violation  of  their  principles. 
Earnest,  God=fearing  men,  transmit  to  distant  pos- 
terity their  deepest  convictions  and  most  intense  pur- 
l)oses.  He  who  despises  genealogical  inquiry  might 
surely  be  wiser  than  he  is. 

I  was  born  in  Warren,  Litchfield  county,  Connecti- 
cut, on  the  twenty=sixth  day  of  July,  1805,  thirty 
years  and  twenty^wo  days  after  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  My  parents  were  Warren  and  Lucy 
(Tanner)  Sturtevant,  both  born  in  that  part  of  Kent 
which  was  afterward  erected  into  the  town  of  War- 
ren, my  father  in  the  year  1779,  and  my  mother  in 
1782,  both  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  but  both 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  15 

of  them  too  late  in  the  progress  of  the  war  to  have 
retained  any  remembrance  either  of  the  British  rule, 
or  of  the  great  contest.  Mj'  father  was  descended 
from  Samuel  Sturtevant,  who  was  a  resident  of  the 
town  of  Plymouth,  Mass.,  in  1642,  and  who  had  sev- 
eral children.  The  farm  on  which  he  lived  was 
known  as  the  Cotton  farm.  His  son,  Samuel,  was 
deacon  of  the  Church  of  Plympton.  He,  also,  had  a 
numerous  family.  In  our  line  of  descent  he  is  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Nehemiah,  and  he,  by  his  son  Ne- 
liemiah,  who  married  Fear  Cushman,  lived  for  a  time 
in  Halifax,  Mass.,  and  then  emigrated,  in  the  year 
1749  or  '59,  and  settled  first  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  from 
which  place  he  removed  the  next  year,  to  that  part 
of  Kent  which  is  now  \Yarren.  He  and  his  wife, 
Fear,  had  two  sons  and  several  daughters.  Both  he 
and  his  wife  were  laid  in  the  old  Kent  burying^ 
ground,  where  I  am  told  their  gravestones  still  stand. 
Their  two  sons  were  named  Peleg  and  Perez;  the 
latter  was  unmarried.     Peleg  married  Abigail  Swift, 

daughter  of and  Abiah  (Tupper)  Swift,  of  the 

adjacent  town  of  Cornwall,  and  had  by  her,  children 
as  follows:  Fear,  who  married  Arnold  Saunders; 
Isaac,  who  married  Lucy  Hoj)kins;  Warren,  who 
married  Lucy  Tanner;  Lucy,  who  married  Cyrus 
Tanner;  Abiah,  who  married  Rev.  Reuben  Taylor; 
and  Bradford,  who  married  Sally  Carter. 

Peleg  and  Abigail  Sturtevant  of  the  last  paragraph 
were  my  grandparents,  and  Warren  and  Lucy  Sturte- 
vant were  my  jDarents.  Through  Fear  Cushman  I  am 
descended  from  several  of  the  Pilgrims  of  the  May- 
flower and  other  well  known  members  of  the  Pilgrim 
band.      My     great^grandmother,    Fear     (Cushman) 


16  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Sturtevant,  was  lineally  descended  from  Robert 
Cusliman,  the  agent  of  the  Pilgrim  band,  who  pro- 
cured for  them  the  Maj'flower  and  the  Speedwell, 
and  himself  took  passage  in  the  latter  vessel,  but  was 
obliged  to  put  back  on  her  proving  unseaworthy,  and 
who  came  out  to  Plymouth  the  next  year  in  the  For- 
tune, bringing  with  him  his  son  Thomas.  After  a 
short  stay  he  returned  on  business  for  the  company?^ 
to  England,  where  he  soon  after  died. 

His  son,  then  but  a  lad,  remained  with  Gov.  Brad- 
ford, in  whose  care  he  had  been  left  by  his  father. 
He  was  afterward  married  to  Mary  Allerton,  daughter 
of  Isaac  AllertoD  and  his  wife  Mary,  and  who  had 
been  a  passenger  with  her  parents  on  the  Mayflower. 
One  of  the  children  of  this  marriage  was  Rev.  Isaac 
Cushman,  first  minister  of  Plympton,  He  married 
Rebecca  Rickard.  One  of  their  children  was  Lieut. 
Isaac  Cushman,  who  married  for  his  second  wife 
Mercy  Freeman,  widow  of  Jonathan  Freeman,  and 
daughter  of  Major  John  or  Jonathan  Bradford  and 
his  wife,  Mercy  Warren.  The  oldest  of  the  children 
of  Lieut.  Isaac  and  his  second  wife,  Mercy,  was  Fear 
Cushman,  who  became  the  wife  of  Nehemiah  Sturte- 
vant, the  father  of  Peleg  Sturtevant  mentioned  above. 

On  the  death  of  Gov.  Carver,  in  the  first  year  of 
the  Plymouth  colony,  William  Bradford  became  his 
successor  in  office.  Kone  of  the  Pilgrim  band  are 
better  or  more  favorably  known  than  he.  His  wife 
met  her  death  by  drowning  just  as  they  were  landing 
on  the  shore  of  the  New  World.  His  son  was  Dep- 
uty Gov.  William  Bradford,  who  was  followed  in  the 
line  of  succession  by  William,  his  son,  and  Maj.  John 
or  Jonathan  Bradford,  his   crrandson,  who   has  been 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  17 

mentioned  as  the  husband  of  Mercy  Warren  and  the 
father  of  that  Mercy  who  married  Lieut.  Isaac  Cush- 
man  and  was  the  mother  of  Fear  Cushman.  It  thus 
apioears,  that  Fear  Cushman  Stnrtevant  was  de- 
scended from  William  Bradford,  second  Governor  of 
the  Plymouth  colony,  and  his  wife,  who  was  also  one 
of  the  Pilgrim  band.  It  is  also  a  highly  probable 
tradition  that  she  was  descended  through  her  grand- 
mother, Mercy  Warren  from  the  Warren  family  of 
the  Mayflower. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  all  my  ancestors,  as  far 
back  as  the  founding  of  the  colony,  were  adherents  of 
the  religious  faith  and  simple  polity  of  the  Pilgrim 
fathers.  All  in  the  direct  line  and  most  of  those  in 
collaterallines  were  farmers.  It  is  also  just  to  say 
that  I  have  never  made  the  genealogy  of  my  family  a 
study.  Had  I  done  so  I  should  doubtless  have  satis- 
fied, in  some  degree  a  curiosity,  which  greatly  in- 
creased after  most  of  those  from  whom  I  couW  have 
gained  information  were  beyond  the  reach  of  my 
questionings.  Most  of  the  meager  details  given 
above  were  furnished  by  the  kindness  of  friends,  es- 
jDeciall}^  by  John  Tillson,  a  friend  and  benefactor  of 
Illinois  College  in  its  beginning  and  till  his  death  in 
1853  a  trustee  of  the  same,  and  his  noble  and  excel- 
lent wife,  Christiana  (Holmes)  Tillson,  both  of 
whom  were  descended  from  the  same  Pilgrim  ances- 
try as  myself.  They  immigrated  to  this  State  from 
the  town  of  Halifax,  in  the  old  colony,  soon  after  its 
admission  into  the  Union.  The  people  of  Illinois»in 
coming  generations  will  never  know  how  much  they 
are  indebted  to  them  for  many  of  the  blessings  they 
enjoy. 


18  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Of  my  mother's  ancestry  I  have  sought  in  vain  to 
obtain  information.  Her  father,  Ephraim  Tanner, 
was  the  proprietor  of  quite  a  large  farm  and  carried 
on  the  trades  of  tanner  and  currier,  being  a  tanner  by 
trade  as  well  as  by  name.  He  also  did  a  considerable 
])usiness  as  a  country  merchant.  His  house,  which 
was  a  very  good  one  for  that  period,  still  stands  di- 
rectly opposite  the  Congregational  meeting  house  in 
Warren.  He  was  a  man  of  great  activity  and  pub- 
lic spirit,  and  died  in  1801  at  the  age  of  forty-seven. 
His  tombstone  still  stands  in  Warren  graveyard.  He 
left  the  following  children:  Cyrus,  who  married  Lucy 
Sturtevant;  Cinda,  who  never  never  married;  Lucy, 
who  married  Warren  Sturtevant;  Marvin,  who  mar- 
ried his  cousin,  Cornelia  Tanner;  Lydia,  who  married 
Silas  Beekley;  Joseph  Allen,  who  married  Orra 
Swift;  Mirnada,  who  died  in  infancy;  and  Patty,  who 
married  Dr,  Ralj)li  Carter.  It  is  said  that  grand- 
father and  his  five  brothers  all  served  at  the  same 
time  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  His  brother  Eben- 
ezer  was  long  a  deacon  in  Warren,  where  some  of  his 
descendants  still  reside.  Trial,  another  brother, 
settled  and  reared  a  family  in  Canfield,  Ohio.  Of 
my  great-grandmother  I  only  know  that  her  name 
was  Esther  Newcomb.  My  ignorance  of  my  mother's 
family  is  quite  shocking,  considering  what  means  of 
information  must  at  one  time  have  been  accessible  to 
me,  and  here  I  enter  my  solemn  j)rotest  against  the 
indifference  to  family  history  which  then  prevailed, 
an"d  to  a  considerable  extent  still  prevails  in  New 
England.  It  robs  the  family  of  that  dignity  which 
belongs  to  it  in  the  divine  plan  and  tends  to  barbar- 
ism. 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  19 

Both  my  father  and  mother  were  reared  in  that 
competency  which  the  New  England  farmer  of  those 
times  derived  from  his  own  acres  by  the  incessant 
and  severe  labor  of  himself  and  each  member  of  his 
family.  They  did  not  know  poverty,  for  their  wants 
were  supplied  from  steady  and  nnfailing  resources. 
They  were  not  rich,  for  their  supplies  were  derived, 
not  from  the  accumulations  of  the  jDast,  but  from 
daily  industry  and  frugality.  One  article  in  the 
creed  of  those  New  England  fathers  certainly  en- 
joined industry  and  economy.  No  "  idle  bread  "  was 
eaten  in  their  houses.  My  grandjoarents  on  both 
sides  had  large  families,  and  when  the  paternal  es- 
tates were  divided  th'ere  was  but  a  small  portion  for 
each.  The  education  of  my  parents  was  confined  to 
that  furnished  by  the  common  schools  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  even  in  these  my  father  had  but  limited  op- 
portunities. He  was  a  good  reader,  wrote  a  fair 
hand,  spelled  with  unerring  accuracy,  and,  though 
he  had  never  studied  grammar,  seldom  fell  into  a 
grammatical  error.  He  was  a  sober,  thoughtful, 
amiable,  religious  man,  of  eminent  common  sense 
and  sound  judgment. 

My  mother's  education  Avas  a  little  better.  She 
was  fond  of  reading,  and  had  a  decided  taste  for  fic- 
tion and  poetry.  She  seems  to  me  to  have  been  an 
excellent  judge  of  preaching  and  preachers,  and  most 
keenly  enjoyed  those  higher  examples  of  X3ulf)it  elo- 
C[uence  which  she  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing. 
In  my  childhood  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  jiastor  in 
the  adjacent  town  of  Litchfield,  and  she  always  heard 
him  with  great  delight.  Mr.  Beechers  predecessor 
in  Litchfield  was  Mr.  Huntington,  the  father  of  the 


20  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

present  Bishop  Huntington.  He  was  also  an  eloquent 
man  and  she  greatly  admired  him.  He  afterwards 
became  a  Unitarian.  Dr.  Joseph  Harvey,  of  Goshen, 
and  the  celebrated  Samuel  J.  Mills,  the  father  of  the 
missionary  of  that  name,  were  lights  that  often  shone 
in  our  humble  pulpit.  The  natural  ability  of  both 
my  parents  seemed  to  me  such  as  might  have  shone 
in  a  far  different  sphere  if  they  had  been  educated 
for  it.  Beside  their  graves  and  those  of  others  whom 
I  knew  in  my  childhood  I  am  reminded  of  Gray's 
familiar  words: 

"  Perhaps  in  this  neglected  spot  is  laid 

Some  heart  once  pregnant  with  celestial  fire; 
Hands  that  the  rod  of  empire  might  have  swayed, 
Or  waked  to  ecstacy  the  living  lyre." 

Those  who  toil  in  obscurity  all  their  lives,  receive 
too  little  sympathy  from  the  more  pros^oerous,  and 
what  is  worse,  they  receive  far  less  respect  and  honor 
than  they  deserve.  Those  who  fail  to  shine  in  con- 
spicuous i^ositions,  only  for  lack  of  culture,  are  not 
altogether  like  the  diamond  forever  concealed  in  the 

"Dark,  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean." 
There  is  an  important  function  for  high  natural  en- 
dowment in  the  places  of  obscurity.  Dark  and  mis- 
erable indeed  would  be  the  condition  of  the  toiling 
masses  if  all  who  possessed  any  extraordinary  gifts 
were  at  once  lifted  out  of  the  associations  to  which 
they  were  born,  and  left  the  masses  that  remained 
behind,  to  unmitigated  dullness,  uncheered  by  one 
spark  of  genius,  one  flash  of  wit,  or  one  gleam  of 
native  wisdom.  Obscure  genius  transmits  the  high- 
est forces  of  civilization  and  the  best  thought  of  every 
generation  to  the  multitude  by  which,  in  the  provi- 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  21 

dence  of  God,  it  must  ever  be  surrounded.  No 
scheme  can  be  devised  which  will  relieve  all  the  best 
minds  of  each  generation  from  the  sphere  of  obscure 
toil.  The  necessity  of  securing  men  of  power  and 
culture  for  some  important  positions,  which,  never- 
theless, promise  no  high  rewards  or  honors  in  this 
life,  may  make  it  needful  in  exceptional  cases  to  offer 
special  facilities  to  those  who  are  preparing  for  these 
positions.  But  as  a  rule  it  is  obvious  that  the  divine 
constitution  of  society  requires  that  the  i^lace  anyone 
is  to  occupy  shall  depend,  not  only  upon  his  talents, 
but  also  upon  his  pluck  and  energy  of  will.  Any 
social  adjustment  which  interferes  with  this  law  is 
bad  economy  and  worse  philanthropy.  It  is  unjust 
to  those  who  are  rising  along  nature's  own  rugged 
path,  and  injurious  to  society,  whose  places  of  high 
trust  should  be  reserved  for  those  who  have  proved 
their  fitness  under  the  natural  forms  of  trial  and  dis- 
cipline. 

It  is  the  order  of  Providence  that  the  toiling  multi- 
tude, that  must  always  constitute  the  great  mass  of 
any  people,  should  be  the  store-house  from  which  the 
supply  of  the  cultured  and  influential  must  continu- 
ally be  recruited.  It  is  not,  as  a  rule,  in  the  homes  of 
wealth  and  luxury  and  social  and  professional  emi- 
nence that  the  sturdiest  manhood  can  be  produced, 
It  is  often  the  product  of  many  generations  of  hum- 
ble virtue.  Nor  am  I  at  all  sure  that  the  man  who 
rises  to  servo  his  generation  in  a  conspicuous  position 
has  a  more  desiral^le  lot  than  that  of  his  obscure 
ancestors. 

Religious  principle  was  preeminent  above  all  other 
characteristics  in  my  parents.     They  had  been  edu- 


22  JULIAN  M.  STVBTEVANT 

cated  in  the  Calvinistic  faith  of  the  New  England 
fathers,  and  learned  the  Shorter  Catechism  in  child- 
hood, and  diligently  tanght  the  same  to  their  chil- 
dren. It  was  the  form  in  which  they  had  received 
the  faith;  yet  it  was  not  the  standard  of  their  faith 
nor  its  object.  They  did  not  regard  it  as  infallible. 
Of  the  statement  there  made,  "  No  mere  man  since 
the  fall  is  able  j)erfectly  to  keep  the  commandment 
of  God,"  they  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  re- 
garded it  as  incorrect,  and  to  give  their  reasons.  The 
only  object  of  their  faith  was  God  in  Christ,  and  its 
only  standard  was  the  Word  of  God. 

I  wish  it  were  possible  to  convey  to  the  reader  a 
true  conception  of  the  little  community  into  which  I 
was  introduced  at  my  1)irth.  It  was  in  many  impor- 
tant respects  unlike  anything  which  now  exists  in  our 
country,  or,  ^Drobably,  in  the  world.  Of  the  political 
changes  which  have  come  over  the  whole  nation  since 
I  was  ten  years  of  age  I  do  not  intend  here  to  .si)eak 
at  length;  I  see  their  magnitude  not  without  alarm. 
Then,  the  annual  "  Freemen's  Meeting,"  held  uni- 
formly on  the  first  Monday  in  April,  was  a  gathering 
of  the  legal  voters  of  the  town,  to  provide  for  the 
maintenance  of  social  order  and  the  general  welfare. 
Personal  rivalries  there  doubtless  were,  but  neither 
state  nor  national  politics  had  much  influence  in  the 
government  of  the  town.  How  greatly  things  have 
changed  in  this  respect  I  need  not  inform  the  reader. 
At  the  present  time  the  question  which  has  prece- 
dence in  the  political  action  of  the  smallest  town  in 
Connecticut  has  generally  little  or  no  reference  to  the 
management  of  their  local  affairs,  but  to  national  and 
state  politics.     It  is  whether  the  support  of  that  little 


BIRTH.  PARENTAGE.  ASD  CHILDHOOD  23 

community  shall  be  given  to  the  one  or  the  other  of 
the  two  great  parties  that  are  in  perpetual  conflict  for 
the  possession  of  the  national  government. 

Nor  has  the  religious  life  of  New  England  experi- 
enced less  imj)ortant  changes.  The  modern  division 
of  the  Christian  Church  into  many  sects,  each  striv- 
ing to  extend  its  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  often  to 
the  detriment  of  every  other,  was  for  the  most  i^art 
unknown  to  the  New  England  of  my  boyhood.  We 
had  Baptist,  Ejaiscopal  and  Methodist  churches,  but 
they  were  far  too  few  in  number  to  seriously  impair 
the  unity  of  the  New  England  church  life.  The 
Baptists  were  numerous  only  in  Rhode  Island.  Both 
they  and  the  Methodist  societies  that  were  beginning 
to  be  organized  here  and  there,  usually  sought  loca- 
tions remote  from  the  Congregational  places  of  wor- 
ship and  thus  rarely  came  into  competition  with  them. 
The  world  was  then  broad  enough  for  all.  There  was 
no  crowding.  The  consequence  was  that  the  church 
in  any  particular  town  was  not  regarded  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  some  distinct  denomination,  but  simply 
as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  "  the  Church 
Universal."  We  thought  of  ours  as  the  "  Warren 
Christian  Church."  If  in  my  childhood  I  had  heard 
our  place  of  worship  mentioned  as  Congregational  I 
would  have  needed  to  ask  an  explanation  of  the  un- 
usual term.  Such  was  the  vantage  ground  of  the 
Connecticut  churches  at  the  time  of  which  I  am 
speaking,  and  the  same  thing  might  be  said  of  the 
larger  portion  of  Massachusetts  and  also  of  a  consider- 
able part  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire.  I  call  it 
vantage  ground,  not,  however,  to  Congregationalists 
as    a    religious  denomination,   but   to   Christianity. 


2i  JVLIA^  M.  STURTEVAnf 

There  existed  a  network  of  Christian  churches,  cover- 
ing every  foot  of  the  soil  of  the  state,  and  bringing 
the  opportunities  of  religious  instruction  and 
Christian  worship  within  the  reach  of  every  inabitant. 
So  complete  a  provision  for  the  spiritual  care  and 
culture  of  a  whole  x)eople  has  never  existed  elsewhere. 

Such  was  the  Warren  church.  On  Sabbath  morn- 
ing the  congregation  gathered  from  every  hillside  and 
valley  along  the  highways  and  byways,  to  the  one 
very  homely,  and  in  winter  very  uncomfortable, 
"  meetingdiouse " — a  hallowed  sjjot,  however,  for 
which  almost  all  the  population  felt  more  or  less 
attachment.  Through  the  worship  there  conducted 
each  family  was  bound  to  every  other,  and  a  feeling 
of  mutual  responsibility  was  awakened  quite  in  con- 
trast with  the  spirit  prevailing  in  too  many  churches 
to=day.  Often  at  the  close  of  the  Sunday  service  it 
would  be  announced  from  the  pulpit  that  serious  ill- 
ness had  visited  some  home.  The  benediction  was 
not  pronounced  until  volunteer  nurses  had  been  sup- 
plied for  every  night  in  the  week.  The  same  provis- 
ion would  be  made  on  each  succeeding  Sabbath  till 
the  necessity  had  ceased.  We  deposited  the  sacred 
dust  of  our  dead  in  "  God's  Acre,"  near  by  the  hum- 
ble temple  where  they  had  worshipped. 

To  the  beneficent  influence  of  such  a  church  the 
district  school  was  a  most  jDowerful  auxiliary.  It  was 
not  at  that  time  absolutely  free,  though  very  nearly 
so,  and  care  was  taken  that  no  child  of  any  nationality 
or  complexion  should  be  excluded.  A  rudimentary 
education  was  secured  to  all.  The  entire  territory 
was  divided  into  a  convenient  number  of  school  dis- 
tricts, and  provision  was  made  for  sustaining  a  school 


BIHTH,  PAIiEXTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  25 

in  each.  The  iDastor  of  the  church,  who  had  ahnost 
invariahly  received  a  collegiate  education,  was 
regarded  as  the  special  guardian  of  the  schools  in  his 
parish.  He  often  visited  them  and  gave  relig- 
ious instruction,  especially  in  the  Shorter  Catechism. 
These  visits  greatly  encouraged  and  iDromoted  the 
good  cause  of  education.  The  winter  term  of  the 
school  continued  about  three  or  four  months,  and  was 
usually  taught  by  a  man;  the  summer  term  for  about 
the  same  period,  was  generally  in  charge  of  a  woman, 
the  former  receiving  as  salary  about  sixteen  dollars  a 
month,  and  the  later  about  one  dollar  and  a  half  a 
week.  Board  was  free  to  teachers  who  were  willing 
to  live  by  turns  in  the  families  from  which  their 
puj)ils  came,  the  length  of  time  at  each  place  being 
determined  by  the  number  of  children  attending 
school  from  that  home.  I  remember  well  what  a 
treat  it  was  when  it  came  our  turn  to  have  the  school- 
mistress board  with  us,  and  accompany  us  to  and 
from  school. 

To  the  care  of  this  school  I  was  committed  as  soon 
as  I  reached  the  age  of  five  or  six  years,  although  our 
home  was  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  the  schoolhouse, 
and  I  must  often  encounter  in  going  and  coming  the 
fierce  storms  and  formidable  snowdrifts  of  one  of  the 
bleakest  hilltoiDS  in  Connecticut.  We  were  all  so 
familiar  with  such  hardships  that  they  did  not  much 
ax^pall  either  my  parents  or  myself.  One  of  my  earli- 
est teachers  was  jNIr.  Homer  Curtiss,  who  is  still  living 
at  Waverly,  in  this  state,  at  the  remarkable  age  of 
ninety-seven  years.  Another  of  my  teachers  in  that 
same  school  in  very  early  childhood  was  Orra  Swift, 
afterwards  the  wife  of  my  mother's  brother,  Joseph 


26  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Alien  Tanner,  who  emigrated  in  1835  from  "Warren  to 
Waverly,  where  he  died  in  1838,  leaving  the  wife  of 
his  youth  a  widow,  with  one  grown  son  and  two 
grown  daughters,  and  an  infant  son  of  their  old  age, 
Edward  A.  Tanner,  D.  D.,  now  the  president  of  Illi- 
nois College.  Dea.  Joseph  A.  Tanner  was  one  of  the 
noblest  contributions  that  Connecticut  ever  made  to 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  thoughtful,  intelligent 
in  the  Christian  faith,  tranquil  in  temper  and  wholly 
consecrated  to  his  country,  to  the  Church  of  Christ 
and  to  God, 

In  that  school  I  continued  for  the  most  part,  win- 
ter and  summer,  till  the  end  of  the  year  1815,  In  it  I 
learned  to  read  and  spell,  and  began  to  write,  I  also 
committed  the  Shorter  Catechism,  which  I  should 
have  learned  equally  well  at  home  had  I  not  been  in 
school.  There  I  yielded  as  easily  and  cheerfully  as 
the  average  lad  to  the  will  of  the  teacher.  How  im- 
portant to  young  and  old  that  obedience  to  prof)erly 
constituted  authority  should  be  enforced.  Much  more 
than  this  I  could  not  have  learned  with  any  advantage 
in  any  school,  unless  I  had  stored  ^ly  memory  with 
hymns  and  other  poetic  selections  and  simple  historic 
narrative.  As  I  compare  the  school  experiences  of  the 
first  eleven  years  of  my  life  with  what  I  should  have 
enjoyed  in  the  costly  and  much  lauded  public  schools 
of  the  present  day,  I  must  frankly  confess  that  I 
greatly  prefer  the  schools  of  seventy  years  ago  to  those 
now  found  in  most  of  our  large  cities.  The  old  New 
England  school,  however,  could  have  been  much  im- 
proved. The  tasks  in  reading  and  spelling  might 
have  been  with  great  advantage  varied  by  hymns,  bal- 
lads, select  paragraphs  from  classic  authors,  or  even 


BIRTH,  PAREXTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  27 

fiction.  The  parables  of  Jesus  or  other  delightful 
Scrii^ture  selections  might  have  been  substituted  for 
the  Catechism,  for,  though  I  acknowledge  the  excel- 
lence of  many  things  found  in  it,  I  by  no  means  regard 
that  work  as  wefl  adapted  to  the  mind  of  average 
childhood.  It  abounds  in  certain  metaphysical  dis- 
tinctions and  subtle  generalizations  far  beyond  a 
child's  capacity.  A  child  can  commit  the  words  to 
memory  but  cannot  master  the  thought. 

I  do  not  believe  it  would  have  been  better  to  have 
substituted  for  the  rude  and  simple  arrangement  of 
the  Connecticut  district  school  of  1815  a  little  arithme- 
tic, a  little  geography,  a  little  diluted  and  simplified 
physical  science,  and  a  little  of  almost  everything  else, 
administered  in  the  manner  of  modern  times.  Such 
treatment  of  childhood  is  well  fitted  to  impress  upon 
youth  the  wise  man's  declaration,  "Much  study  is  a 
weariness  of  the  flesh,  and  of  the  making  of  many 
books  there  is  no  end." 

A  child  of  ten  or  eleven  cannot,  as  a  rule,  learn  to 
any  great  extent  either  grammar  or  x3hilosophy.  It  is 
almost  violence  to  his  nature  to  imj^ose  such  tasks 
ujpon  him.  If  not  time  lost,  it  is  time  misused.  He 
can  appreciate  and  enjoy  simple  poetry;  can  become 
familiar  with  pure  English  in  speech  and  composition, 
and  can  acquire  foreign  languages  by  the  same  pro- 
cesses w'hich  gave  him  the  command  of  his  mother 
tongue,  I  am  confident  that  I  finished  the  first  twelve 
years  of  my  life  sounder  in  mind  and  purer  in  morals, 
and  more  robust  for  future  mental  acquisition,  than  I 
should  have  done  had  the  last  five  of  those  years  been 
spent  in  a  modern  graded  school  with  all  the  "latest 
improvements." 


28  JTUAX  31.  STURTEVAXT 

But  the  district  school  was  only  the  first  round  of 
the  ladder  in  the  Connecticut  system  of  education. 
In  the  times  of  which  I  am  speaking  no  community 
in  the  world  was  giving  a  collegiate  education  to  a 
larger  proportion  of  its  sons  than  was  the  state  of 
Connecticut,  Such  an  opportunity  was  oj^ened  not 
only  to  the  sons  of  the  wealthy,  but  to  those  in  mod- 
erate and  even  in  straitened  circumstances.  Acad- 
emies and  high  schools  of  various  degrees  existed  in 
many  of  the  larger  towns.,  where  a  more  extended  ed- 
ucation could  Ije  secured  by  the  brighter  puj)iL3,  after 
graduating  from  the  common  schools,  and  where  those 
whose  parents  desired  it,  could  Ije  prejjared  for  college. 
In  this  way  the  colleges  exerted  a  constantly  increas- 
ing influence  on  the  pupils  of  the  lower  schools,  and 
the  whole  community  was  imbued  with  the  .si)irit  of  a 
higher  education.  To  secure  to  children  such  an  ed- 
ucation as  their  talents  and  tastes  required  was  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  jjarents.  If  in  the  public  schools 
any  boy  manifested  more  than  ordinary  mental  capac- 
ity it  was  sure  to  be  noticed,  and  he  was  encouraged 
and  helped  to  seek  a  collegiate  education. 

I  now  come  to  a  very  peculiar  experience  of  my 
childhood  that  exerted  a  powerful,  perhaps  I  ought  to 
say  controlling  influence  over  my  after  life.  It  is 
difficult  to  present  the  facts  wisely  and  truly,  so  as  to 
afford  the  reader  a  faithful  picture  of  the  surround- 
ings. Let  me  anticipate  by  mentioning  that  my 
parents  had  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  Of  these, 
Efjhriam  Tanner,  older  than  myself  by  two  years, 
died  in  December,  1881,  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  My  sis- 
ter, Hulda  Monson,  was  five  years  younger  than  my- 
self.    She  died  at  Beardstown,  Illinois,  in  1860.     Mv 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  29 

youngest  brother,  Christopher  Cornelius,  who  still 
lives  in  Minneapolis,  was  eight  years  younger  than 
myself.  The  two  younger  children  were  therefore  not 
sufficiently  mature  to  understand  the  events  or  sym- 
l^athize  with  the  religious  experiences  which  I  am 
about  to  relate.  My  older  brother  and  myself  were 
accustomed  to  attend  public  worship  regularly.  Be- 
tween the  morning  and  the  afternoon  service  there 
was  only  an  hour's  intermission,  and  as  a  fire  was 
never  kindled  in  the  meeting  house,  however  cold  the 
weather,  we  often  spent  this  interval  at  the  house  of 
my  maternal  grandmother,  directly  across  the  street 
from  the  church,  whither  we  went  with  many  others 
to  warm  ourselves  and  get  lunch.  I  am  not  aware 
that  the  ordinary  exercises  of  public  worship  had  in 
my  childhood  any  marked  influence  upon  my  mind. 
Rev,  Peter  Starr,  who  was  pastor  of  Warren  church 
for  more  than  fifty  years,  was  an  excellent,  practical 
Christian,  but,  as  far  as  I  remember,  he  never  arrested 
any  particular  attention  by  any  of  his  pulpit  utterances. 
He  was  a  good  man,  and  was  greatly  revered  as  a 
preacher  by  my  parents,  and  their  reverence  inspired 
the  same  feeling  in  me,  but  he  was  not  a  brilliant  man. 
If  I  am  asked  whether  it  is  probable  that  a  more  elo- 
quent preacher  would  have  exerted  more  influence  upon 
one  of  my  age  than  this  godly  divine,  I  can  in  reply  only 
refer  to  the  powerful  impression  produced  upon  my 
mind  by  the  eloquent  preaching  of  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher,  who  often  exchanged  with  our  pastor;  for  in 
those  days  the  most  eloquent  preachers  illustrated  the 
parity  of  the  clergy  by  exchanging  pulpits  with  their 
less  gifted  brethren. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  I   comprehended  the  vast 


30  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

sweep  of  Mr.  Beecher's  intellect  as  he  held  his  con- 
gregation almost  spellbound  on  some  great  Christian 
theme,  or  that  I  fully  understood  all  his  lofty  generaliza- 
tions, but  I  felt  the  power  of  his  fervent  enthusiasm  and 
the  glow  of  his  magnificent  imagination.      It  is  truly 
a  great  delight  to  remember  how  I  heard  that  noble 
man,  who  was  then  a  mighty  power  through  all  the 
region  around  his  parish  and  a  blessing  to  multitudes 
who  saw  him  only  in  the  pulpit.     I  do  not  wnsh  to 
be  understood,  however,  as  saying  that  the  ordinary 
exercises  of  public  worship,  had  no  molding  influence 
on  my  childhood.     They  brought  religion  to  the  fore- 
ground,  and   gave  me  habits  of  reverence  for  God, 
His  Church  and  His  holy  Word.  But  the  direct  influ- 
ence, that  impressed  my  mind  and  heart  more  than  all 
else,  came  from  the  home  life  and  from  family  wor- 
ship, my  parents  always  giving  to  religion  the  prefer- 
ence above  all  other  interests  and  themes.     It  was  on 
the   Sabbath  that  the  power  of  our  family   religion 
was   especially    conspicuous.      On    returning    home 
from   the   second   service,   worship   followed   imme- 
diately after  our  dinner,  when  parents  and  children 
gathered   around   the   family   hearth.     The   Shorter 
Catechism  was  first  recited,  each  one  repeating  in  his 
turn  the  answer  to  one  question,  the  older  children, 
however,  being  expected  to  repeat,  at  the  proper  time, 
the   whole.     This  being   finished  my   father   read  a 
portion  of    Scripture,    occasionally  accompanying  it 
with   a    few   remarks,    and   then   we    all    rose   and 
remained  standing  while  he  offered  a  short  but  fer- 
vent prayer.     It  was  then  generally  sunset,  and,  in 
accordance  with  the  early  custom  of  New  England, 
our  Sabbath  was  ended. 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  31 

It  is  difficult  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  strength  of 
the  imx3ressions  sometimes  produced  by  these  domes- 
tic experiences,  but  I  will  record  one  incident.  On 
a  certain  Sabbath  after  finishing  the  Catechism  at 
family  prayers,  my  father  turned  to  the  twenty  fifth 
chapter  of  Matthew  and  read  the  judgment  scene, 
commencing  "  But  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come 
in  His  glory,"  without  comment,  and  then  immedi- 
ately offered  prayer  as  usual.  A  sense  of  the  awful 
majesty  of  that  sacred  j)icture  came  over  my  mind 
with  such  power  as  to  almost  overwhelm  me.  The 
thought  flashed  upon  me  with  unspeakable  vividness: 
I  myself  shall  be  there — one  of  those  to  be  judged. 
The  impression  of  that  moment  has  never  left  me.  It 
will  be  as  lasting  as  my  existence.  The  exercises  be- 
ing ended  I  hastened  to  some  diversion  to  relieve  my 
mind  from  a  thought  so  overwhelming.  If  I  be 
asked  whether  I  now  believe  that  scene  will  ever  be 
witnessed  in  reality,  I  answer  that  the  question  seems 
to  me  of  little  importance.  Doubtless  the  magnifi- 
cent drapery  of  the  scene  had  a  powerful  influence  on 
my  mind.  Whether  that  tragedy  will  ever  be  liter- 
ally enacted  by  us  all  in  one  scene,  I  do  not  know; 
but  the  imagery  is  fitted  to  impress  on  the  mind  a 
truth  grander  and  more  massive  than  any  which 
science  has  ever  taught;  the  truth  that  every  man 
shall  be  judged  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body,  and  in  consequence  of  ihat  judgment  be 
assigned  to  an  eternal  destiny.  This  truth  is  so 
deeply  rooted  in  the  moral  intuitions  of  the  soul  that 
even  childhood  resj^onds  to  its  presentation.  The 
power  of  Scriptural  imagery  over  the  mind  of  youth 
is  a   very  striking  proof  of  the  divine  energy.      I 


32  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

could  not  have  been  more  than  eight  years  of  age 
when  this  incident  occurred.  My  parents  were 
neither  poets,  artists  nor  orators.  Surely  I  was  im- 
pressed only  by  the  divine  power  garnered  in  the 
holy  Scriptures. 

I  do  not  remember  the  exact  chronology  of  the  ex- 
perience I  am  recording.  It  must  have  been  but  a 
few  months  after  the  occurrence  just  related  that 
another  event  haj^pened  which  exerted  a  far  greater 
influence  over  my  life.  One  afternoon  my  brother 
Ephraim  and  I  were  left  alone.  We  were  engaged 
in  such  plays  as  are  usual  with  children,  when  I 
became  most  painfully  impressed  with  the  thought 
that  I  was  a  great  sinner  before  God,  and  alarmed  at 
the  thought  of  His  displeasure.  Greatly  distressed 
in  mind,  I  could  not  continue  play.  My  brother  was 
also  much  affected  in  sympathy  for  me.  The  thing 
which  moved  me  most  was,  that  really  profane 
thoughts  often  came  into  my  mind,  thoughts  which, 
though  not  uttered  or  entertained,  would  again  and 
again  intrude  themselves.  When  mother  returned 
she  found  us  in  great  distress.  She  did  what  any 
wise.  Christian  mother  would  have  done.  She 
soothed  us  with  the  assurance  that  God  is  very  merci- 
ful; that  Christ  came,  suffered  and  died  to  save  sin- 
ners, and  that  for  His  sake  God  would  forgive  all  our 
sins,  and  Jesus  would  be  our  Savior  forever.  Her 
words  reassured  us  and  we  retired  for  the  night  as 
cheerful  as  usual.  The  impression  did  not,  however, 
leave  us.  After  that  we  were  far  more  thoughtful 
and  religiously  inclined.  Our  pastor  visited  us  and 
gave  much  the  same  counsel  as  that  bestowed  by  our 
mother.     It  was  not  a  period  of  unusual  excitement 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  33 

or  religious  effort  in  the  community,  but  after  some 
months  of  serious  reflection  it  was  suggested  to  us 
to  unite  with  the  church. 

To  receive  into  a  religious  body  persons  so  young 
as  ourselves  was  then  a  great  innovation.  But  the 
facts  in  the  case  seemed  to  our  parents  and  friends  to 
justify  the  step.  We  both  readily  accepted  the  pro- 
IDOsition,  feeling  that  participation  in  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  greatly  to  be  desired,  and  supposing,  as 
everyone  else  around  us  did,  that  communion  with- 
out church  membershii)  would  be  imj)ious.  Accord- 
ingly, a  little  before  an  api^roaching  communion 
season,  we  appeared  before  the  church  and  applied 
for  examination  and  admission.  The  examination,  in 
consideration  of  our  tender  years,  was  short  and  very 
simple.  We  were  accepted,  and  on  the  next  Sabbath 
our  names  were  given  out  from  the  pulpit.  On  the 
communion  Sabbath  we  presented  ourselves,  in  ac- 
cordance with  custom,  in  the  broad  aisle  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  congregation,  and  gave  our  assent  to  the 
creed  and  covenant  and  were  accepted  as  members  of 
the  church  in  full  standing.  I  was  not  yet  ten  years 
old.  If  I  am  asked  what  I  now  think  of  what  was 
then  regarded  as  my  conversion,  I  answer  that  one 
thing  in  resi^ect  to  it  is  certain  beyond  any  question. 
It  was  honest  and  natural,  the  spontaneous  out- 
growth of  my  own  nature  and  the  religious  influences 
around  me.  There  was  in  it  no  stage  effect.  No 
pojDe,  priest,  or  Jesuit,  either  papal  or  Protestant, 
IDulled  the  wires  or  worked  the  machinery.  No  one 
had  said  or  done  anything  to  me  either  fitted  or  in- 
tended to  produce  artificial  results.  The  experience 
of  us  two  brothers  was  entirely  out  of  the  ordinary 


34  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

course  of  things,  and  was  treated  by  the  church  with 
cahn  and  deliberate  good  sense  and  practical  wisdom. 
I  recognize  those  conversions  as  the  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  How  the  Spirit  operates  on  the  hu- 
man heart  I  know  not.  Through  all  the  ages  of 
Christian  history,  God  has  employed  His  Word  in  a 
way  precisely  analogous  to  this  in  producing  great 
and  beneficent  changes  in  the  lives  of  multitudes. 
The  Scriptures  seem  to  represent  the  power  by 
which  these  changes  are  wrought  as  being  the  Spirit 
of  God.  It  is  the  same  power  that  conceived  and 
portrayed  the  judgment  scene  in  the  twenty^fifth 
chaijter  of  Matthew.     As  such  I  accejit  it. 

That  experience  has  exerted  a  very  important,  and 
as  it  seems  to  me.  most  beneficent  influence  on  my 
whole  life.  Fourscore  years  have  i3assed,  and  yet  I 
can  truly  say  that  what  occurred  subsequent  to  these 
events,  was  but  the  carrying  out  of  my  sincere  com- 
mitment of  myself  which  I  then  made  to  the  Chris- 
tian cause.  My  heart  rejoices  in  the  step  then  taken. 
I  have  never  regretted  it.  Never  has  the  Christian 
life  seemed  like  bondage,  neither  has  it  imposed  any 
painful  restraint.  I  was  not  held  to  it  by  fear,  but 
by  a  hearty  approbation  and  a  deliberate  choice.  My 
conversion  did  not  in  any  disagreeable  way  separate 
me  from  the  companions  of  my  childliood  and  youth. 
On  the  contrary,  I  had  in  after  years  great  joy  in 
welcoming  large  numbers  of  them  to  a  religious  life, 
and  in  consequence  of  it  friendships  were  formed 
which  have  been  most  precious  and  enduring.  If  I 
have  ever  done  any  good  in  the  world  my  early  con- 
version and  identification  with  the  Church  have  been 
in  great  measure  the  cause  of  it. 


BIRTH,  PARENTAGE,  AND  CHILDHOOD  35 

I  imagine,  however,  that  a  critical  inquirer  asks 
with  a  sharp  emphasis:  "  Do  you  think  you  really 
understood  that  creed  and  gave  an  intelligent  assent 
to  it?"'  I  have  no  embarrassment  in  answering:  I 
neither  understood  it  nor  intelligently  assented  to  it. 
On  my  part  the  transaction  meant  uniting  myself 
with  the  Church  of  Christ.  I  neither  knew  nor 
thought  whether  or  not  I  understood  the  creed.  The 
church  offered  me  the  creed,  and  I  accepted  it  be- 
cause she  offered  it.  It  was  the  Church  of  Christ 
and  not  the  creed  which  I  acce^Dted,  If  I  still  be 
asked  whether  I  think  it  is  wise  and  right  to  require 
candidates  for  admission  to  the  church  to  assent  to  a 
creed  which  they  cannot  be  supposed  to  understand, 
again  I  have  no  embarrassment  in  answering:  No. 
The  practice  is  absurd  and  a  great  deal  worse  than 
useless.  I  do  not  know  that  the  rule  requiring  per- 
sons to  assent  to  a  prescribed  creed  as  a  condition  of 
admission  to  the  church  prevails  elsewhere  than  in 
the  Congregation&l  churches  of  this  country,  and  in 
such  Presbyterian  churches  as  have  borrowed  it  from 
their  Congregational  neighbors.  It  was  not  the 
custom  of  the  early  Congregational  churches.  Can- 
didates formerly  made  the  confession  of  their  faith  in 
their  own  language.  It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that 
we  return  to  the  wiser  usages  of  our  fathers,  and  that 
our  Presbyterian  friends  who  have  imitated  our  aber- 
rations, be  reminded  that  it  is  not  always  wise  to  fol- 
low even  Congregational  examples. 

I  was  never  taught,  however,  either  by  i^recept  or 
example,  that  the  church  creed  or  the  catechism  was 
a  standard  of  faith.  They  were  always  held  as  sub- 
ject to  correction  by  the  Word  of  God,  and  as  being 


36  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of  no  force  or  validity  except  as  they  agreed  with  it. 
Neither  I  nor  my  fathers  before  me  have  ever  recog- 
nized any  church  authority  which  had  the  right  to 
dictate  in  the  matters  of  faith  to  any  disciple.  I  was 
always  taught  to  regard  both  creed  and  polity  as  open 
to  all  the  reforms  which  truth  might  require.  I  can 
have  no  doubt  of  the  j)i'opriety  of  allowing  even 
childhood  to  commit  and  consecrate  itself  to  Christ 
and  His  Church.  We  cannot  attach  ourselves  too 
soon  or  too  firmly  to  those  profound  certainties  which 
even  extreme  youth  is  capable  of  discerning  in  the 
simple  Gospel  of  Christ.  My  moral  nature  did  early 
lay  hold  on  those  certainties,  and  for  this  I  shall 
thank  God  forever.  I  believe  that  early  commitment 
did  much  to  hold  me  fast  to  that  moral  and  spiritual 
truth  which,  like  the  nature  of  God,  is  everlasting, 
while  on  the  other  hand  it  has  hel^Ded  to  make  me  a 
bold  and  ffee,  yet  reverent,  advocate  of  all  such  re- 
forms as  are  needful  to  bring  the  Church  into  full 
conformity  with  the  divine  j)attern.  .It  was  my  pur- 
pose before  closing  this  account  of  my  early  child- 
hood to  have  given  some  incidents  indicating  the 
peculiar  severity  of  the  life  of  New  England  farmers 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century.  But  I  find 
that  my  space  will  not  admit  of  it.  I  must  hasten 
into  the  more  advanced  periods  of  my  history. 


CHAPTER  II. 

A  NEW  HOME. 

During  the  period  of  which  I  have  been  speaking, 
difficulties  were  thickening  around  our  humble  home 
which  soon  resulted  in  a  very  great  change  being 
wrought  in  the  scene  and  the  conditions  of  our  lives. 
Very  soon  after  my  birth,  my  father  had  disposed  of 
his  interest  in  the  Sturtevant  homestead,  and  had 
purchased  a  farm  much  nearer  to  the  church  and  to 
the  best  school  in  the  place.  The  amount  of  his  pur- 
chase considerably  exceeded  his  patrimony,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  mortgage  the  farm  for  the  remaipder 
of  the  purchase  money.  My  parents  were  young  and 
strong,  and  hoped  soon  by  their  own  industry  to 
cancel  this  mortgage,  and  to  spend  their  lives  and 
rear  their  children  on  that  spot.  But  an  irresistible 
necessity  was  laid  upon  them  ere  long,  to  abandon 
their  home  and  remove  to  regions  far  away.  Their 
farm  was  at  the  best  rugged  and  barren,  and  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances  their  task  would 
have  been  very  arduous.  These  difficulties  were  im- 
mensely increased  by  changes  which  were  coming 
over  the  country.  At  that  time  the  industries  of 
New  England  were  almost  wholly  restricted  to  agri- 
culture and  commerce,  and  these  industries  were  mu- 
tually dependent.  The  wars  growing  out  of  the 
French  Revolution  and  the  career  of  the  first  Napo- 
leon, were  then  agitating  the  whole  civilized  world. 

37 


38  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

England  was  not  only  the  mistress  but  the  tyrant  of 
the  seas,  and  her  unscrupulous  exercise  of  her  su- 
premacy, seriously  crippled  the  commerce  of  all  neu- 
tral nations.  From  the  beginning  of  Jefferson's  ad- 
ministration onward,  the  policy  of  our  government 
had  been  to  resist  English  aggressions  by  discrimina- 
tions against  English  commerce,  till  finally  in  1812, 
during  the  first  term  of  Madison's  administration, 
war  was  declared  against  England.  The  effect  of 
these  measures  ui3on  the  industry  of  New  England 
was  to  drive  her  commerce  from  the  ocean,  and  to  ut- 
terly prostrate  her  agriculture.  Of  the  justice  or  ex- 
pediency of  all  this  I  have  now  nothing  to  say. 

Just  or  unjust,  the  result  was  the  same.  Thousands 
of  farmers  were  rendered  entirely  unable  to  pay  the 
interest  on  their  debts,  and  at  the  same  time  support 
their  families  from  the  products  of  their  farms.  Out 
of  this  grew  an  immense  emigration,  especially  from 
Connecticut,  to  that  tract  in  the  northeastern  corner 
of  Ohio,  known  as  the  Western  Reserve,  then  famil- 
iarly called  New  Connecticut.  The  demand  for  a 
change  came  upon  my  father  with  a  pressure  which 
could  not  be  resisted.  There  was  no  sympathy  in  his 
nature  with  the  spirit  of  the  adventurous  fortune 
seeker.  The  insecurity  of  our  western  frontier  as 
long  as  the  war  lasted,  rendered  any  removal  of  his 
family  to  the  new  lands  quite  out  of  the  question. 
As  soon  as  peace  was  restored  (in  1815),  he  began  to 
arrange  his  plans  for  such  a  change,  In  the  fall  of 
that  year,  accompanied  by  his  brother,  Bradford,  he 
made  the  journey  to  Ohio  on  foot  to  see  the  country 
for  himself  and  to  choose  a  situation.  He  returned 
with   a   favorable  report,  and  he  and  my  uncle  ar- 


A  NEW  HOME  39 

ranged  as  fast  as  they  could  to  remove  their  families 
to  the  new  western  home  the  next  spring.  Both  my 
parents  deeply  regretted  this  necessity.  To  my 
mother  it  was  a  source  of  life=long  sorrow.  It  was, 
as  it  seemed  to  her,  to  separate  her  for  the  rest  of  her 
life  from  all  her  kindred  and  to  debar  her  from  those 
religious  priviliges  and  facilities  for  the  education 
of  her  children  which  were  so  precious  to  her  and 
important  to  her  family.  She,  however,  yielded  un- 
complainingly to  the  admitted  necessity.  How  much 
there  has  been  of  such  heart  sickness  in  connection 
with  those  migrations  that  have  at  last  caused  the 
wilderness  to  rejoice,  and  the  desert  to  blossom  as 
the  rose,  is  known  only  to  Him  who  knoweth  all 
things.  De  Toqueville,  in  his  American  Democracy, 
intimates  that  as  a  people  we  have  no  love  for  home, 
no  natural  patriotism.  He  could  not  have  proved 
that  assertion  by  the  history  of  our  family.  Neces- 
sity made  us  emigrants.  Surely  those  who  trans- 
plant the  home  affections  and  all  that  is  best  in  the 
institutions  of  their  fathers,  into  the  depths  of  the 
wilderness  give  the  highest  proof  of  natural  patriot- 
ism. The  financial  disasters  which  came  upon  the 
people  of  New  England  from  the  causes  mentioned, 
and  from  the  competition  with  the  West  which  soon 
began,  would  have  reduced  almost  any  other  j)eople 
to  extreme  want.  With  that  breadth  of  intelligence 
and  energy  of  character  for  which  they  were  distin- 
guished, they  so  met  the  various  crises  that  real  pow- 
erty  has  been  almost  unknown  among  them.  They 
learned  trades,  established  manufactures,  became 
prosperous  merchants  in  our  cities,  and  migrated  by 
tens  of  thousands  to  those  cheap  and  fertile  lands 


40  JULIAN  M.  STUETEVAXT 

whose  comiaetitive  iDroductiveness  was  ruining  their 
New  England  farms,  and  were  everywhere  among 
the  most  jDotent  elements  of  our  extending  civiliza- 
tion. 

All  through  the  winter  of  1815-16  preparations 
for  our  removal  were  in  constant  progress.  By  us 
children  it  was  regarded  with  a  curiosity  that  implied 
no  appreciation  of  the  importance  to  all  our  future,  of 
what  was  going  on.     To  our  parents  it  was  sad  work. 

Yet,  sadly  as  that  winter  passed  in  the  home  we 
were  about  to  leave,  there  was  one  very  bright  spot. 
On  a  bitter  cold  day  in  mid=winter,  my  father  and 
mother,  and  my  mother's  sister,  Patty,  together  with 
my  older  brother  and  myself,  attended  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Litchfield  County  Foreign  Missionary 
Society.  His  Excellency  John  Cotton  Smith,  pre- 
sided. I  had  never  seen  a  live  governor  before,  and 
it  was  truly  a  great  sight.  The  chief  speaker  was 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher.  Of  course  he  greatly  stirred 
our  hearts  by  such  a  presentation  of  the  then  fresh 
theme  of  missions' to  the  heathen,  as  no  man  but  he 
could  make.  It  would  be  long  before  we  should  hear 
that  eloquent  voice  again.  Our  hearts  were  so 
warmed  by  what  we  had  heard  that  we  scarcely  felt 
the  extreme  cold  while  homeward  bound. 

On  the  afternoon  of  May  28,  1816,  we  bade  adieu  to 
the  home  of  my  childhood  and  went  to  the  home 
of  my  maternal  grandmother  to  pass  the  night.  The 
next  morning  we  commenced  our  journey  westward. 
When  our  caravan  was  assembled  it  consisted  of  two 
wagons,  each  drawn  by  a  yoke  of  oxen  with  one 
horse  harnessed  before  them.  The  wagons  were 
strongly  built  for  rough  roads,  and  were  covered  with 


A  XEW  HOME  41 

canvas  stretched  upon  wooden  b(jws,  leaving  the  front 
end  oijen.  The  party  consisted  of  my  uncle,  with  his 
wife  and  two  children,  my  father,  mother  and  four 
children,  a  brother  and  sister  of  my  uncle's  wife,  and 
a  young  man  who  attached  himself  to  our  family;  six 
children  and  seven  adults.  In  the  wagons  were  our 
beds  and  bedding,  such  provisions  as  we  could  carry, 
our  wearing  api^arel,  and  other  necessaries  for  the 
journey.  Our  progress  was  of  course  slow,  and  for 
the  most  part  the  men  and  the  larger  boys  were  on 
foot,  and  sometimes  even  the  women  also.  At  night 
we  expected  to  secure  a  room  in  which  we  could 
spread  our  beds.  Our  meals  were  i^repared  from  the 
resources  which  we  carried  with  us,  with  such  addi- 
tions as  we  found  it  necessary  to  xjrocure  by  the  way. 
As  we  had  chosen  that  season  of  the  year  when 
pleasant  weather  could  be  for  the  most  part  expected, 
our  position  was  not  very  uncomfortable.  Yet  most 
people,  accustomed  to  civilized  life,  would  not  have 
regarded  it  as  a  pleasant  journey. 

Our  route  was  from  home  to  Fishkill  Landing,  on 
the  Hudson;  thence  across  the  Hudson  in  a  saihboat 
to  Newburg;  thence  through  portions  of  the  states  of 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  to  Easton  Pennsylvania; 
thence  through  Bethlehem  and  Reading  to  Harrisburg; 
thence  through  Carlisle  to  Strasburg,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Alleghanies;  thence  over  the  mountains  through 
Bedford  and  Greersburg  to  Pittsburg.  At  Pittsburg 
we  crossed  the  Alleghany  River  and  followed  the 
right  bank  to  the  Ohio,  along  the  route  now  taken  by 
the  Cleveland  and  Pittsburg  Railway,  to  the  mouth 
of  Beaver  Creek.  Thence  we  traveled  to  Canfield, 
Ohio,  where  we  passed  a  Sabbath  in  the  hospitable 


42  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

home  of  Trial  Tanner,  a  brother  of  my  grandfather, 
Ephraim  Tanner.  From  that  i^oint  it  was  a  short 
distance  to  Talhnadge,  Summit  County,  Ohio,  where 
we  passed  a  few  days  among  hosts  of  old  acquain- 
tances, emigrants  from  Warren,  before  going  to 
Richfield,  Summit  County,  Ohio,  where  we  considered 
our  long  journey  ended.  It  was  destined  to  terminate 
the  progress  of  my  westward  migration  for  the  next 
thirteen  years.  The  distance  jDassed  over  was  more 
than  five  hundred  miles,  and  the  time  required  for 
making  it  was  more  than  four  weeks.  It  now  requires 
less  than  twenty = four  hours. 

Little  space  can  be  given  to  describing  this  journey. 
To  such  a  boy  as  myself,  just  under  eleven  years  of 
age,  it  was  an  event  of  great  importance.  To  a  mod- 
ern traveler,  shut  up  in  a  railway  carriage,  perhaps  in 
a  sleeping  berth,  it  is  a  matter  of  very  trifling  conse- 
quence. But  as  we  traveled  largely  on  foot,  in  the 
open  air  and  sunlight,  at  the  rate  of  less  than  twenty 
miles  a  day,  and  as  new  scenes  occupied  the  mind 
almost  wholly  for  a  month,  it  furnished  the  best  lesson 
in  geography  I  ever  learned.  It  gave  me  definite 
ideas  of  distances  and  magnitudes,  and  afforded  me 
accurate  and  vividly^remembered  concej)tions  of  the 
meaning  of  the  words  "  mountains,  rivers,  plains  and 
forests."  It  conveyed  to  me  a  new  idea  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  world  and  particularly  of  our  own  country, 
taught  me  to  observe  the  xjhysical  features  of  our 
planet,  and  did  much  to  translate  my  knowledge  of 
geography  from  the  abstract  into  the  concrete. 

An  incident  will  illustrate  this.  Somewhere  be- 
tween Easton  and  Harrisburg  we  reached  a  little 
stream  called  Swatara  too  deep   to  be  forded  with 


A  NEW  HOME  43 

safety.  A  scow  was  lying  at  the  bank,  but  no  ferry- 
man was  at  hand  and  we  were  obliged  to  wait  an  hour 
for  his  return.  The  tranquil  stream  fringed  with 
willows,  in  "  leafy  June,"  and  skirted  with  fields  of 
wheat  and  grass,  filled  me  with  a  peaceful  delight. 
The  boy  became  for  the  moment  almost  a  poet,  and  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  scene  remained  with  me.  Forty^ 
eight  years  afterwards,  on  a  journey  to  New  York,  I 
found  myself  one  afternoon  taking  the  train  at  Har- 
risburg  for  New  York  by  what  is  known  as  the  Allen- 
town  Line,  extending  from  Harrisburg  to  Easton.  It 
was  the  old  route  over  which  I  had  not  passed  since 
my  youthful  journey  with  the  emigrant  party.  I  nat- 
urally took  a  seat  near  the  window  and  looked  for 
familiar  objects.  When  after  a  time  we  crossed  a 
bridge  over  a  little  stream  I  was  confident  that  I 
recognized  again  the  Swatara,  and  my  fellow  passen- 
gers assured  me  that  I  was  not  mistaken.  The  whole 
scene  of  forty=eight  years  ago  was  before  me.  The 
intervening  years  were  annihilated,  and  I  was  a  boy 
again  in  the  company  of  emigrants. 

Eastern  Pennsylvania  was  at  that  early  day  a  well 
cultivated  and  highly  productive  country.  The  im- 
mense stone  barns  which  were  seen  on  almost  every 
farm  excited  our  wonder.  Though  there  was  at  that 
time  a  very  considerable  trade  over  the  mountains 
between  Philadelxjhia  and  Pittsburg,  carried  on  in 
immense  wagons  each  drawn  by  four  horses,  no  road 
had  yet  been  built.  A  good  turnpike  was  in  process 
of  construction,  but  only  five  miles  of  it  had  been 
opened  to  traffic.  The  trail  by  which  we  crossed  the 
mountains  was  exceedingly  rough  and  difficult.  The 
wheels  of  our  wagons  went  bounding  along  from  one 


44:  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

boulder  to  another,  much  as  in  a  cart=path  in  some 
out-of-the-way  place  on  a  New  England  hillside. 
Almost  the  only  vehicles  we  met  were  the  immense 
wagons  already  spoken  of.  The  size,  strength  and 
docility  of  the  horses,  and  the  skill  and  good  nature 
of  the  drivers,  excited  our  admiration.  Our  passage 
over  Laurel  Hill,  the  last  mountain  we  crossed,  is 
vividly  remembered. 

We  had  not  proceeded  far  in  the  ascent  when  it  be- 
gan to  rain.  The  air  was  chilly  and  very  disagreea- 
ble. My  mother,  fearing  to  ride  over  a  road  so  hor- 
rible, was  on  foot.  On  the  toj)  of  the  mountain  there 
was  a  house  at  which  travelers  were  kept,  but  my 
mother  insisted  on  proceeding,  because  the  house 
had  no  enviable  rei3utation.  So  we  continued  our 
journey  and  descended  the  rocky  slope,  mother  still 
preferring  to  walk.  On  reaching  a  place  of  some  de- 
gree of  comfort  we  were  soon  warm  and  dry,  and  for- 
tunately no  harm  was  experienced  from  the  exposure. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  Pittsburg  bore 
little  resemblance  to  the  great  manufacturing  city 
which  now  stands  at  the  confluence  of  the  Alleghany 
and  Monongahela.  We  rested  for  our  midday  lunch 
amid  cultivated  fields  which  lay  between  the  city  and 
the.  Alleghany.  A  bridge  was  in  process  of  construc- 
tion across  that  stream,  but  we  crossed  by  boat. 

The  region  traversed  after  entering  the  state  of 
Ohio  was  mostly  covered  by  forests  of  gigantic 
growth.  We  sometimes  traveled  miles  through  these 
woods  without  seeing  a  single  human  dwelling.  On 
one  such  occasion,  about  midday,  a  thunder-storm 
broke  upon  us.  The  wind  blew  violently  and  the 
thunder  rolled  and  reverberated  through  the  forest. 


A  NEW  HOME  45 

Trees,  and  branches  torn  from  their  trunks,  fell 
crashing  around  us.  This  was  a  terrific  experience 
for  the  women  and  the  children,  to  whom  such  for- 
ests, even  in  nature's  mildest  moods,  were  strange 
and  awe-inspiring.  Such  a  migration  is  capable  of 
exerting  a  i^owerful  influence  on  the  character. 

At  Richfield,  Ohio,  my  father  and  uncle  had  pur- 
chased jointly  a  small  tract  of  land,  with  five  or  six 
acres  of  clearing,  on  which  was  a  log  house  contain- 
ing but  two  rooms,  one  above  the  other,  with  no 
means  of  gaining  access  to  the  upper  room  except  by 
a  ladder.  At  this  house  the  goods  were  to  be  unload- 
ed, and  the  two  families  were  to  commence  house- 
keeping. It  seemed  a  rather  heart-sickening  end  of 
so  long  and  wearisome  a  journey,  but  here  we  re- 
mained several  weeks,  doing  what  we  could  to  make 
ourselves  comfortable.  It  was  midsummer,  and  we 
did  not  suffer  from  the  cold,  and  were  sheltered  from 
the  rain.  The  two  brothers  were  a  good  deal  unde- 
cided in  relation  to  their  future  plans.  The  place 
was  new  and  seemed  so  strange.  Nearly  all  the  few 
inhabitants  were  recent  immigrants  like  ourselves. 
We  had  no  church,  no  school,  no  roads.  All  these 
were  to  be  constructed. 

Our  Sabbaths  came  and  went  as  of  old,  but  they 
brought  with  them  little  except  memories,  which 
taught  us  how  "  blessings  brighten  as  they  take  their 
flight."  From  those  days  onward  the  137th  Psalm 
has  always  possessed  for  me  a  peculiar  charm.  '"'By 
the  rivers  of  Babylon  there  we  sat  down,  yea,  we 
wept,  when  we  remembered  Zion."  At  last  a  report 
came  that  on  the  next  Sabbath  public  worship  was 
to  be  held  in  a  log  house  at  Brecksville,  a  church  was 


46  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

to  be  organized,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  observed. 
The  officiating  minister  was  to  be  Rev.  Wm.  Han- 
ford,  of  Hudson,  one  of  the  most  indefatigable  mis- 
sionaries then  laboring  in  that  part  of  Ohio.  Brecks- 
ville  is  now  almost  a  suburb  of  the  great  city  of 
Cleveland.  It  was  then  a  little  new  settlement  in  the 
woods.  Between  us  and  the  j)lace,  which  was  four  or 
five  miles  distant,  lay  a  literally  trackless  forest.  I*t 
was,  however,  almost  instantly  resolved  that  my  fath- 
er, uncle,  brother  and  myself  would  attend  church 
Sabbath  morning.  After  an  early  breakfast  we  start- 
ed, taking  with  us  a  pocket  compass  as  a  guide.  The 
place  of  worship  was  a  humble  log  cabin  home. 
After  a  sermon,  in  which  all  were  profoundly  inter- 
ested, some  fifteen  persons  united  themselves  by  mu- 
tual covenant  as  a  Christian  Church.  That  organi- 
zation, if  I  mistake  not,  still  exists.  The  Lord's 
Supper  was  then  observed.  It  mattered  little  to  me 
that  the  bread  was  distributed  from  a  common  din- 
ner plate,  and  the  wine  poured  from  a  common  earth- 
ern  pitcher  into  glass  tumblers.  At  no  time  in  my 
life  have  I  enjoyed  a  Sabbath  more  intensely.  The 
two  boy  communicants  attracted  the  notice  of  Mr. 
Hanford,  who  came  after  service  and  conversed  with 
our  party.  The  acquaintance  thus  begun  had  an  im- 
portant influence  upon  the  future  of  my  brother  and 
myself.  That  Sabbath  was  a  bright  day  in  the  re- 
cord of  my  life;  a  day  in  which  my  Christian  faith 
had  been  much  confirmed,  and  in  which,  though  I 
had  then  no  such  thought,  it  had  become  nearly  cer- 
tain that  I  would  obtain  a  collegiate  education  and 
devote  my  life  to  the  Christian  ministry. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  my  parents  were 


A  NEW  HOME  47 

very  reluctant  to  make  Eiclifield  their  home.  Its 
utter  lack,  for  the  time,  of  schools  and  church  privi- 
leges seemed  an  insuperable  objection  to  a  perma- 
nent stay.  Accordingly,  my  father  soon  arranged  his 
business  interests  by  surrendering  all  his  rights  in 
the  Richfield  property  to  his  brother,  and  purchased 
a  small  piece  of  excellent  land  in  Tallmadge,  on 
which  b}^  the  toil  of  his  hands  a  farm  could  be  made; 
for  the  virgin  forest  still  covered  it  all. 

We  soon  removed  to  Tallmadge  and  prepared  for 
the  erection  of  our  new  home.  I  find  no  words  that 
can  do  justice  to  the  hospitality  so  generously  ex- 
tended to  us  while  our  cabin  was  in  xjrogress  of  erec- 
tion, by  the  immigrants  from  Warren  who  were  al- 
ready in  the  town,  esj)ecially  by  Deacon  Salmon 
Sackett  and  his  family.  The  preciousness  of  Chris- 
tian brotherhood  is  often  touchingly  illustrated  amid 
the  hardships  of  a  new  settlement.  Winter  was 
almost  upon  us  before  our  rude  cabin  was  ready  for 
occupancy.  Well  do  I  remember  the  day  we  took  up 
our  abode  in  it.  It  was  the  29th  of  November,  1816. 
The  undergrowth  only  had  been  removed,  leaving  the 
giants  of  the  forest,  some  of  them  more  than  a  hun- 
dred feet  in  height,  towering  far  above  our  frail  shel- 
ter. Our  chimney  was  constructed  by  cutting  away 
a  portion  of  the  logs  on  one  side  of  the  cabin  and 
building  in  the  opening  thus  made  a  fireplace  of 
stones  laid  in  clay,  and  projecting  outside  of  the 
wall.  Above  the  stone=work,  raised  only  high  enough 
to  avoid  contact  with  the  fire,  the  chimney  was  fin- 
ished with  sticks  daubed  with  clay.  The  fireplace 
was  very  large,  and  I  often  stood  partially  within  it 
and  looked  up  the  chimney  at  the  tree  tops  which 


48  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

were  waving  far  above  it.  Primitive  as  that  habita- 
tion was,  its  rudeness  was  not  its  worst  feature.  It 
was  entirely  inadequate  to  protect  us  from  tlie  sever- 
ities of  such  winters  as  those  we  found  in  northeast- 
ern Ohio.  This  was  especially  true  of  a  house  fresh 
built  from  green  logs.  That  was  a  long  and  dreary 
winter.  The  rheumatism  with  which  my  father  suf- 
fered and  the  colds  of  my  mother  an  d  the  rest  of  the 
family  are  painful  to  remember. 

Though  the  cold  was  often  intense  and  the  school 
was  a  mile  and  a  quarter  distant,  we  boys  were  seldom 
absent  or  late.  Punctuality  and  regularity  were  en- 
forced upon  us.  Ours  was  one  of  the  best  teachers  I 
ever  had.  She  enabled  me  at  eleven  years  of  age  to 
study  English  grammar  with  j)leasure  and  much  pro- 
fit. She  was  herself  a  product  of  the  New  England 
common  school.  When  the  spring  opened  in  that 
year  (1817)  other  and  graver  matters  than  school  re- 
quired our  attention.  The  forest  was  to  be  converted 
into  fruitful  fields  from  which  the  support  of  a  family 
must  be  derived,  and  that  could  be  done  only  by  the 
combined  labor  of  one  man  and  two  boys.  As  soon 
as  the  winter  school  was  closed  father,  brother  and 
myself  all  gave  ourselves  with  such  strength  as  we 
possessed  to  that  work.  To  the  unpracticed  eyes  of 
my  mother,  and  the  children,  it  seemed  almost  impos- 
sible, without  crushing  the  cabin,  to  fell  those  trees 
that  still  surrounded  it.  When  the  time  came  for 
cutting  one  immense  tree  that  stood  near  the  house, 
my  mother,  with  her  two  younger  children,  took  a  posi- 
tion beyond  the  reach  of  the  tallest  limbs  and  waited 
for  the  catastrophe.  After  many  hard  strokes  of  the 
murderous  ax  the  top  was  first  seen  to  waver  and  then 


A  NEW  HOME  49 

to  move  steadily,  and  then  to  rush  to  the  ground  with 
awful  force  and  a  thundering  but  harmless  crash.  I 
do  not  wonder  that  the  great  Mr.  Gladstone  even  in 
the  dignity  of  his  old  age  is  fond  of  felling  trees.  It 
is  grand  sx3ort  even  for  British  statesmen.  Not  more 
than  ten  rods  from  the  cabin  we  found  lying  upon  the 
ground  a  chestnut  tree  which  must  have  fallen  several 
generations  before  the  woodman  had  begun  to  invade 
those  forests.  As  it  lay  there  the  trunk  measured 
more  than  six  feet  in  thickness.  The  time  since  its 
fall  could  only  be  conjectured  from  its  state  of  partial 
decay,  but  the  durability  of  chestnut  timber,  even 
when  exposed  to  the  weather,  almost  surpasses  belief. 
Visiting  that  spot  a  few  months  ago,  I  was  convinced 
that  the  very  rails  split  in  the  years  1817  and  1818, 
from  freshly  fallen  chestnut  trees  l^y  my  father's  hand, 
I  in  a  feeble  way  assisting,  still  formed  the  boundaries 
of  the  old  fields.  I  could  see  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
they  would  last  fifty  years  longer. 

That  old  trunk  was  surrounded  by  a  little  forest  of 
tall,  sturdy  hickories  which  had  doubtless  grown  from 
nuts  accidently  dropped  there,  after  the  ancient  trees 
had  ceased  to  shade  the  ground.  The  immense  log 
was  so  water=soaked  that  it  was  scarcely  combustible. 
We  cleared  away  the  huge  mass  by  cutting  the  hick- 
ories, heaping  them  against  it  and  firing  the  -pUe. 
Thus  little  by  little  we  dried  and  consumed  it.  Many 
a  weary  day  did  we  toil  around  that  fallen  monarch. 
So  is  it  ever.  Accumulations  of  rottenness  and  cor- 
ruption can  only  be  removed  by  long  and  patient  toil. 

I  shall  close  this  story  of  our  first  season  in  the 
great  Ohio  forest  with  an  incident.  As  w^e  had  no 
fenced  fields  the  two  or  three  cows  on  which  we  large- 


60  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ly  depended  for  our  living  were  pastured  in  the  open 
forest  on  the  west  border  of  which  our  cabin  was  situ- 
ated. It  contained  from  thirty  to  forty  square  miles 
unbroken  by  a  single  farm  or  cabin.  The  searching 
for  our  cattle  in  that  great  wild  pasture  was  not  with- 
out serious  perils  to  those  unaccustomed  to  the  woods. 
Even  persons  of  considerable  experience  were  liable 
to  be  lost  in  that  trackless  forest. 

One  beautiful  Sabbath  evening  in  October,  during 
our  first  season  in  the  cabin,  after  dinner  and  family 
worship,  father  and  mother  started  out  together  to 
drive  home  the  cattle,  the  cow  bell  being  within  hear- 
ing. The  four  children  were  left  behind.  In  the 
dusk  of  the  evening  the  cows  came  home,  but 
father  and  mother  were  not  with  them.  As  we 
learned  afterward,  they  had  walked  carelessly  on  in 
tlie  direction  from  which  the  sound  had  been  heard, 
without  noticing  the  bell.  When  next  they  stopped 
to  listen  for  it  the  sound  had  ceased.  Conjecturing 
that  the  belbcow  had  laid  down,  they  walked  on  in 
the  same  direction.  Just  as  they  had  concluded  that 
they  must  have  passed  her  they  came  to  a  swamp,  the 
situation  of  which  was  well  known  to  my  father. 
But  he  was  unable  to  assure  himself  whether  he  was 
on  the  east  or  west  side  of  it.  In  the  meantime  the 
wind  had  risen  and  the  heavens  were  overcast  with 
clouds.  Soon  a  light  was  seen  through  the  clouds 
near  the  horizon,  which  they  assumed  to  be  the  eve- 
ning twilight;  but  it  was  the  light  of  the  newly  risen 
moon  in  the  east.  Supposing  they  had  discovered  the 
proper  points  of  the  compass  they  were  reassured  and 
set  ofiP,  as  they  thought  for  home,  but  really  toward 
the  southeast  into  the  heart  of  the  great  forest.     Soon 


A  XEW  HOME  51 

the  sky  was  overcast  with  heavier  clouds,  and  the 
wind  rose  to  alarming  violence.  After  rambling  for 
a  time,  while  the  wind  was  roaring  and  the  trees  were 
falling  around  them,  my  father  realizing  that  they 
were  lost,  suggested  that  they  should  stop  in  as  com- 
fortable a  place  as  could  be  found,  and  wait  for  the 
morning.  To  this  my  mother  utterly  objected.  "If," 
said  she,  "  we  stop  we  certainly  shall  not  get  home  to 
the  children;  if  we  keep  going,  it  is  possible  that  we 
may."  This  was  decisive.  So  they  pushed  on,  avoid- 
ing obstacles  in  their  way  by  going  around  rather 
Ihan  through  them,  as  one  direction  was  as  likely  to 
be  right  as  another. 

We  children  at  home  soon  became  very  anxious, 
and  used  every  means  at  our  command  to  make  a 
noise  in  the  hope  that  we  might  thus  guide  their  be- 
wildered way.  We  pounded  on  the  end  of  a  log  with 
the  head  of  an  axe.  We  climbed  to  the  roof  of  the 
cabin  and  hammered  upon  it,  but  all  in  vain.  At 
length  daylight  was  quite  gone,  and  we  were  in  de- 
spair. The  nearest  neighbors  were  half  a  mile  away, 
and  to  search  for  our  parents  in  that  great  forest  in 
such  a  night  was  hopeless.  We  retired  to  the  cabin, 
kejit  the  fire  and  lights  burning,  and  with  many  tears 
sat  down  to  wait  for  what  might  ccme. 

After  wandering  for  hours,  father  and  mother  came 
suddenly  uj^on  what  my  father's  i^racticed  eye  recog- 
nized as  an  opening  in  the  forest  where  a  tree  had 
been  cut.  He  examined  by  the  sense  of  feeling  and 
soon  found  the  stump.  In  the  original  survey  of  the 
lands  a  township  five  miles  square  was  first  marked 
off.  Its  boundaries  were  indicated  by  a  line  of  blazed 
trees.     This  square  was  then  divided  into  four  equal 


52  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

parts  by  public  roads  extending  north  and  south  and 
east  and  west  tlirough  its  center.  These  roads  were 
indicated  by  two  lines  of  blazed  trees,  and  by  the 
letter  "  H,"  carved  on  any  tree  which  was  found  to 
stand  exactly  on  the  line  of  either  side  of  the  road. 
My  father  conjectured  that  the  stump  which  he  had 
found  marked  a  familiar  spot  in  the  road  which  ex- 
tended along  the  south  side  of  our  farm.  This  road 
was  indicated  in  the  survey,  but  was  not  open  for  use. 
By  feeling  the  neighboring  trees,  the  two  sides  of  the 
road  were  found,  and  also  a  tree  marked  with  the  letter 
"  H."  This  assured  them  that  they  were  on  the  east 
and  west  road,  and  probably  only  a  half  mile  from 
home.  But  how  to  get  there  was  the  question.  It 
was  not  very  difficult  for  two  persons  to  follow  one  of 
these  blazed  lines  in  total  darkness.  One  would  re- 
main near  a  blazed  tree  till  another  similarly  marked 
could  be  found,  which  in  turn  was  kept  till  the  next 
was  discovered,  and  so  on.  It  yet  remained  for  them 
to  determine  in  which  direction  home  lay,  since  a 
wrong  course  would  carry  them  yet  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  forest.  After  traveling  as  it  seemed  a  long 
distance  they  came  again  upon  the  swamp.  There 
father  left  mother  by  a  blazed  tree  until  he  had  satis- 
fied himself  by  examing  the  edge  of  the  swamp  for 
some  distance  that  they  were  on  its  western  side. 
They  had  traveled  half  a  mile  in  the  wrong  direction 
and  were  now  one  mile  from  home.  They  then  re- 
turned by  the  same  slow  process,  feeling  their  way 
from  tree  to  tree  until  they  reached  home  about  mid- 
night, to  the  great  joy  of  all. 

That  same  night,  an  excellent  yoke  of  oxen  which 
my  father  had  recently  sold  had  been  left  in  a  field 


A  NEW  HOME  53 

where  the  great  trees  had  been  girdled  to  facilitate 
clearing  of  the  land.  In  the  morning  both  were  found 
close  together  dead,  with  a  fallen  tree  lying  across 
them.  This  incident  bears  testimony  to  the  terrors 
of  that  stormy  night. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION. 

During  that  year  a  suggestion  found  its  way  to  our 
humble  cabin  which  was  as  surprising  to  us  all  as 
though  it  had  been  si^oken  from  out  the  voiceless  for- 
ests around  us.  It  came  from  Rev.  William  Hanford, 
our  ministerial  acquaintance  of  that  bright  Sabbath 
at  Brecksville,  and  grew  out  of  the  great  lack  of  min- 
isters of  the  Gospel  in  that  new  country.  New  as 
Tallmadge  was,  it  had  an  incorporated  academy  of 
which  Elizur  Wright  was  then  princii3al.  Mr.  Han- 
ford was  his  son-indaw,  as  was  also  Rev.  John  Seward, 
an  efficient  missionary  settled  at  Aurora.  The  prop- 
osition was  that  my  brother  and  myself  should  enter 
on  a  course  of  study  in  preparation  for  college  and 
the  Christian  ministry.  Mr.  Seward  strongly  sec- 
onded Mr.  Hanford's  suggestion  and  Mr.  Wright 
offered  us  free  tuition.  Nothing  could  well,  seem 
more  absurd.  How  could  our  father  spare  us  from 
the  work  of  the  farm  and  the  forest?  Should  his 
natural  helpers  forsake  him  now  that  they  were  just 
beginning  to  be  helpers  indeed?  True,  I  was  in  re- 
spect to  muscular  strength  but  a  feeble  boy,  and 
could  be  spared  with  very  small  loss,  but  it  seemed 
out  of  the  question  for  him  to  do  without  my  brother 
who  was  now  fourteen,  and  for  his  age  unusually  vig- 
orous and  helpful.  Besides,  the  resources  of  the 
family  were  so  narrow   that  my   parents   could   not 

54 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  65 

afford  any  assistance  to  their  sons  in  pursuing  a  col- 
lege course. 

To  us  lads  the  plan  seemed  utterly  impracticable, 
and  we  expected  and  even  wished  our  parents  to  re- 
ject the  proposition.  I  was  especially  averse  to.  it, 
for  the  idea  of  going  far  from  home  among  strangers, 
under  circumstances  so  peculiar  and  so  remote  from 
the  life  to  which  I  was  accustomed,  a^Dpeared  intolera- 
ble.  I  appreciated  the  generosity  of  our  friends,  but 
thought  I  had  no  wings  for  so  ambitious  a  flight. 
Unexpectedly  to  us  the  suggestion  was  favorably  en- 
tertained by  both  our  parents.  First  of  all  earthly 
things  they  desired  a  superior  education  for  their 
children,  and  their  highest  ambition  was  to  train 
their  sons  for  the  Christian  ministry.  Our  advisers 
assured  them  that  there  were  no  insurmountable  ob- 
stacles, and  that  funds  were  contributed  to  aid  deserv- 
ing young  men  in  preparing  for  the  ministry.  My 
vague  and  unreasoning  dread  was  not  removed,  but 
my  conscience  was  appealed  to  and  the  appeal  pre- 
vailed. When  the  winter  of  the  academy  opened  we 
were  both  on  hand  with  our  Latin  grammars. 

It  was  fortunate  for  me  that  my  i^arents  had  chosen 
Tallmadge  for  their  place  of  residence.  The  town 
was  remarkable  for  certain  laeculiarities  in  its  mode 
of  settlement,  which  had  originated  in  the  mind  of 
Rev.  David  Bacon,  the  father  of  the  distinguished 
Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  of  New  Haven.  A  graphic 
account  of  his  father's  life  published  some  years  ago 
by  the  latter  in  "  The  New  Englander  "  will  furnish 
the  curious  reader  with  the  details  of  this  plan.  Kev. 
David  Bacon  had  made  arrangements  with  the  origi- 
nal proprietors   of  the  town  that  they  were  to  sell 


56  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

farms  to  such  persons  only  as  he  approved.  His  ob* 
ject  was  to  form  a  settlement  composed  of  select  men 
and  women,  so  homogeneous  in  their  religious  be- 
lief that  they  would  easily  coojjerate  and  form  one 
Christian  church.  It  is  true  that  after  a  time  some 
of  the  saints  whom  Mr.  Bacon  had  gathered  around 
him  proved  themselves  less  than  saintly,  and  a  quar- 
rel obliged  him  to  leave  his  charge  before  his  plan 
was  fully  carried  out.  But  enough  had  been  done  to 
secure  in  a  great  measure  the  end  at  which  he  aimed. 
A  character  had  been  given  to  the  town  which  at- 
tracted such  emigrants  as  Mr.  Bacon  had  desired, 
and  repelled  the  opposite  class.  The  consequences 
of  such  a  good  beginning  appear  in  Tallmadge  to  this 
day.  When  my  father  came  the  church  organized  by 
Mr.  Bacon  seven  years  before  was  already  strong  and 
efficient,  having  a  settled  pastor  and  regular  worship, 
and  a  large  congregation.  Tallmadge  was  at  that 
time  as  purely  a  Congregational  community  as  that 
in  which  I  was  born,  although  we  did  not  recognize 
the  church  where  we  worshiped  as  Congregational, 
but  only  as  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  confusion  of 
tongues  had  not  yet  reached  it.  In  the  providence  of 
God  I  knew  nothing  through  all  my  childhood  and 
youth  of  that  strife  of  tongues  which  sectarian  divi- 
sions always  produce. 

It  was  a  part  of  Mr.  Bacon's  plan  to  found  a  col- 
lege at  Tallmadge,  but  unfortunately  after  his  re- 
moval that  idea  was  relinquished.  The  academy 
however,  did  good  service  for  many  years.  To  it, 
and  especially  to  its  excellent  principal,  I  am  under 
life=long  obligations.  Under  his  gratuitous  instruc- 
tion in  the  fall  of  1817  I  commenced  the  study  of 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  57 

Latin.  To  a  boy  of  twelve  years,  having  little  book= 
knowledge  besides  that  contained  in  the  Bible,  the 
Shorter  Catechism  and  the  schoobreaders,  and  with 
the  unphilosophical  modes  of  teaching  Latin  then  in 
use,  the  beginning  of  the  study  was  neither  interest- 
ing nor  encouraging.  The  winter  was  spent  in  com- 
mitting to  memory  Latin  paradigms,  the  use  of 
which  I  did  not  know,  and  rules  which  I  could  not 
comprehend,  and  translating  a  few  j)ages  of  the  His- 
toriae  Sacrte.  The  whole  winter  was  spent  toiling  as 
if  in  a  dark  hole  where  I  could  neither  see  what  I 
did  nor  fully  know  what  I  was  trying  to  do.  Of 
course  I  seemed  to  myself  to  have  accomplishea 
nothing.  Doubtless  we  now  have  better  methods  of 
teaching  Latin,  though  they  are  still  far  from  per- 
fect. We  should  teach  language  first  and  grammar 
afterward.  To  reverse  this  is  to  begin  at  the  top  of  a 
chimney  and  build  downward,  or  to  harness  the  cart 
before  the  horse. 

Spring  came  and  the  school  closed,  not  to  be  re- 
sumed till  the  following  autumn.  It  was  indispensa- 
ble that  we  should  return  immediately  to  the  forest 
and  the  farm,  for  our  services  were  imperatively 
needed  there.  Not  that  anyone  supposed  that  I 
could  accomplish  much,  for  I  really  could  not,  yet  I 
did  as  well  as  I  could,  and  it  was  not  particularly 
aggreeable  that  my  efforts  were  habitually  ridiculed. 
Almost  every  day  I  heard 

"  Little  strokes 
Fell  great  oaks." 

Nevertheless  my  feeble  efforts  did  fell  many  trees. 
Meanwhile  I  found  little  comfort  in  the  thought  of  a 
life  of  study.     As  we  toiled  through  the  summer  the 


58  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

future  presented  little  of  hope  or  cheer,  though  I  was 
not  consciously  unhappy.  I  thought  as  I  looked 
back  that  my  generous  teacher  and  kind  friends  must 
have  had  enough  of  trying  to  teach  Latin  to  so  poor 
a  scholar,  and  I  had  no  desire  to  return  to  that  dark 
hole.  I  was  mistaken,  for  when  the  winter  term 
opened  both  our  parents  and  teachers  expected  us  to 
resume  our  classical  studies  and  we  reluctantly  com- 
plied with  their  wishes.  Happily  discouragement 
did  not  long  continue.  Light  soon  began  to  break 
in,  for  before  the  season  closed,  I  was  convinced  that 
I  could  learn  Latin,  and  that  I  had  a  better  chance 
of  success  as  a  student  than  as  a  farmer  and  forester. 
I  began  to  look  forward  to  college  with  hope  instead 
of  aversion.  My  father's  removal  to  Ohio,  which 
would  have  seemed  the  worst  thing  for  a  boy  like 
myself,  considerably  hastened  the  progress  of  my  ed- 
ucation. Perhaps  indeed  I  should  never  have  gone 
to  college  had  it  not  been  for  the  Tallmadge  academy 
and  the  great  demand  for  educated  ministers  in  the 
West. 

I  must  now  go  back  a  little  in  my  story,  to  men- 
tion a  seemingly  trivial  incident  which  had  neverthe- 
less an  important  bearing  upon  our  plans  for  secur- 
ing an  education.  Before  the  completion  of  our 
cabin  in  Tallmadge,  and  while  we  yet  remained  in 
the  hospitable  home  of  Deacon  Sackett,  a  swarm  of 
bees  came  out  from  one  of  his  hives  at  the  end  of 
August.  This  was  an  unusual  occurrence.  The 
deacon  hived  the  bees  and  gave  them  to  my  brother 
and  myself,  saying,  "They  will  not  survive  the  cold 
winter,  but  may  furnish  you  a  little  honey  for  the 
winter's  use."     They  did,  however,  survive  the  win- 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  59 

ter,  whether  by  reason  of  unusual  industry  or  because 
they  had  robbed  one  of  the  Deacon's  hives,  which 
from  that  time  ceased  to  flourish,  I  cannot  teU.  They 
were  carried  to  our  forest  home  and  soon  so  multi- 
plied as  to  be  of  considerable  importance. 

My  brother  and  myself  had  the  sole  care  of  the 
bees,  or  perhaps  I  should  have  said  my  brother  had, 
for  I  was  only  a  humble  assistant.  They  required 
much  attention,  for  we  were  without  books  or  instruc- 
tion in  bee=culture  and  were  left  to  the  resources  of 
our  own  ingenuity  to  devise  methods  for  their  man- 
agement. That  summer  we  made  almost  as  much 
progress  in  our  studies  as  we  should  have  done  in 
school,  although  we  gladly  assisted  when  necessary 
on  the  farm.  Our  increased  interest  and  added  hope- 
fulness led  us  to  improve  our  spare  moments,  and 
while  we  were  watching  the  bees  we  read  Virgil  and 
Cicero. 

I  am  convinced  by  many  years  of  observation  as  a 
teacher  that  I  make  no  disgraceful  confession  when 
I  acknowledge  that  we  used  translations  whenever 
they  could  be  obtained.  When  we  were  about  to 
commence  a  book  of  Virgil's  JEneid  we  borrowed  a 
copy  of  Dryden's  Virgil  and  read  the  book  together. 
We  would  then,  dictionary  and  grammar  in  hand, 
take  up  the  Latin.  We  did  not  expect  to  rely  on  the 
translation  for  the  exact  construction  of  sentences. 
It  gave  us  only  the  general  course  of  thought.  In 
this  way  we  could  read  the  book  from  the  Latin  in 
much  less  time,  and,  as  we  thought,  with  equal  thor- 
oughness. In  this  manner  we  read  Virgil  and  Cice- 
ro's Orations,  no  translation  being  required  either  for 
Caesar's  Commentaries  or  Sallust,  when  at  a  later  day 


60  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

we  read  the  latter's  works.  Our  method  of  study 
seems  to  me  a  rational  one.  We  learned  the  lan- 
guage first  and  its  grammar  afterwards,  as  children 
do,  and  made  much  more  rapid  progress  than  we 
could  have  done  with  oidy  the  grammar  and  diction- 
ary. During  the  winter  of  '19  and  '20  we  made  good 
progress  in  both  Greek  and  Latin.  The  summer 
found  us  again  at  our  books,  farm  work  and  bee=cul- 
ture,  and  life  was  full  of  joy  that  was  greatly  aug- 
mented by  the  fact  that  during  that  summer  and  the 
following  autumn  Tallmadge  was  visited  by  a  season 
of  quickened  religious  feeling  and  activity  such  as  is 
commonly  called  a  revival  of  religion.  How  came  it 
to  occur?  I  can  give  but  one  answer: — "The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and 
whither  it  goeth."  The  i^astor  of  the  church  was  a 
good,  true  man,  without  any  special  gift  by  which 
such  a  popular  movement  could  be  artificially  pro- 
duced. Its  occurrence  was  as  unexi^ected  to  him  as 
to  anyone  else.  He  had  no  assistance  from  other 
ministers.  There  were  individuals  in  the  church  who 
had  unusual  earnestness  in  jDrayer  for  the  gift  of 
God's  Spirit,  and  the  devout  had  for  weeks  previous 
often  met  in  each  other's  houses  to  pray  for  this 
blessing;  but  these  meetings  were  entirely  j)rivate 
and  unostentatious  in  their  character,  just  such 
meetings  as  people  honestly  believing  in  the  efficacy 
of  prayer  would  naturally  hold  and  enjoy.  Religious 
meetings  of  a  public  character  were  not  appointed  with 
unusual  frequency  till  it  became  known  that  an  un- 
wonted interest  in  religious  things  existed  in  many 
minds  in  different  parts  of  the  town.     This   was  not 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  61 

a  mere  transient  excitement,  for  it  continued  many 
months.  During  much  of  this  time  the  imstor  was 
himself  absent,  but  public  worship  was  held  on  the 
Sabbath  as  usual,  a  sermon  being  read  by  some  mem- 
ber of  the  church.  Two  or  three  religious  meetings 
were  appointed  each  week,  at  5  o'clock  P.  M.  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  town,  either  at  schoolhouses  or 
at  private  dwellings.  My  brother  and  myself,  with 
other  members  of  our  family,  usually  attended 
these  meetings.  Our  farm  work  was  carried  on  with 
no  less  energy  and  success  than  in  other  years.  Ris- 
ing early  in  the  morning,  we  husbanded  all  our  time 
so  that  when  the  hour  of  meeting  arrived  our  day's 
work  was  practically  accomplished.  In  two  or  three 
instances,  in  the  course  of  our  pastor's  absence,  pas- 
tors of  neighboring  churches  spent  a  few  days  with 
us.  Visits  from  house  to  house  by  the  deacons  and 
other  zealous  members  of  the  church  were  frequent 
and  there  was  much  jDersonal  conversation. 

Among  the  persons  deeply  moved  by  this  religious 
revival  was  one  whom  I  ought  to  mention  by  name, 
as  he  sustained  for  several  years  a  very  intimate  rela- 
tion to  my  life,  and  especially  as  he  has  been  by  no 
means  unknown  to  fame,  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  the  son 
of  the  principal  of  our  academy.  He  was  about  a 
year  older  than  myself,  and  my  classmate.  He  pro- 
fessed to  be  converted,  and  with  much  appearance  of 
earnestness  united  among  many  others  with  the 
church.  I  was  already  intimate  with  him  and  loved 
him.  He  had  enjoyed  much  better  advantages  than 
myself,  and  I  regarded  him  as  my  superior  both  in 
natural  talents  and  in  acquisitions.  I  greatly  re- 
joiced in  his  conversion,  and   was   for  several   years 


62  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

more  intimate  with  him  than  I  have  ever  been  with 
any  man  who  was  not  a  relative.  Through  all  those 
years  I  found  him  a  faithful  friend,  ready  and  sym- 
pathetic in  my  hours  of  need.  It  gives  me  great 
l^leasure  to  make  this  record  of  him. 

As  a  result  of  this  revival  changes  were  wrought  in 
the  opinions  and  characters  of  many  individuals, 
which  affected  for  the  better  their  whole  subsequent 
lives,  and  lasting  impressions  for  good  were  made  up- 
on whole  families  and  in  fact  upon  the  entire  com- 
munity. The  number  added  to  the  church  was  not 
far  from  one  hundred,  and  among  them  were  found 
almost  the  whole  circle  of  young  persons  with  whom 
my  brother  and  myself  had  been  associated.  Our 
relations  to  them  during  this  season  of  revival  were 
very  delightful  to  ourselves  and  perhaj)s  beneficial  to 
them.  For  myself,  I  find  that  the  bonds  of  affection 
then  forged  still  bind  me  closely  to  the  people  of  that 
beautiful  town.  In  all  these  more  than  sixty  years 
no  place  has  been  dearer  to  me  than  Tallmadge.  I 
revisit  it  with  peculiar  delight,  and  still  find  among 
the  living  some  who  allude  to  that  season  as  the 
beginning  of  their  religious  life. 

There  was  no  intermixture  of  sectarian  rivalries  in 
that  revival.  No  union  meetings  were  agreed  upon, 
leaving  to  the  future  the  division  of  the  converts 
among  the  different  denominations.  We  had  no  de- 
nominational jealousies  to  guard  against,  no  sectarian 
interests  of  our  own  to  be  guarded.  Our  union  was 
natural,  spontaneous,  and  we  supposed  permanent. 
The  great  transaction  in  which  we  were  so  deeply 
interested  knew  but  two  parties:  Christ  and  the 
world  He  died  to  save.     In  Christ  all  of  His  follow- 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  63 

ers  are  one,  and  nothing  in  the  religious  organization 
of  our  community  tended  to  mar  our  perception  of 
that  oneness.  Surely  that  was  the  natural  and  prim- 
itive condition  of  the  Church.  Nor  can  it  be  denied 
that  its  present  divisions  obscure  the  fact  of  its  unity 
and  narrow  our  conceptions  of  Christian  brotherhood 
and  CO  operation.  I  need  not  assure  the  reader  that 
there  was  great  moral  power  in  such  a  complete  unity 
of  Christian  people. 

During  all  these  years  Tallmadge  had  no  church 
building.  An  academy  was  built  and  used  both  as  a 
schoolhouse  and  a  plRce  of  public  worship.  After 
its  destruction  by  fire  it  was  rebuilt,  and  the  church 
was  still  longer  delayed.  It  was  inconveniently  small 
for  our  congregation.  In  almost  all  our  services  some 
were  compelled  to  stand,  and  this  sacrifice,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  code  of  politeness  of  the  period,  fell 
especially  upon  boys  like  myself.  In  the  fall  of 
1820  it  became  an  evideiit  necessity  to  provide  a 
church  adequate  to  the  necessities  of  the  congrega- 
tion. This  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  do,  for  that  por- 
tion of  Ohio  bordering  on  Lake  Erie,  though  rich  in 
agricultural  resources,  had  absolutely  no  market  for 
the  surplus  of  its  productions.  The  Erie  canal  was 
hardly  yet  projected.  It  was  often  difficult  for  the 
prosperous  farmer  to  raise  sufficient  cash  to  pay  his 
taxes.  The  best  of  wheat  could  not  command  ten 
cents  a  bushel.  How  then  were  the  farmers  of  Tall- 
madge to  build  a  church?  It  was  possible  only  in 
one  way.  The  house  must  be  built  of  timber  cut 
from  their  own  forests,  or  of  stones  quarried  from 
their  own  hills  by  the  hands  of  their  own  mechanics, 
and  paid  for  from  the  products  of  their  own  fields. 


64  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Fortunately  they  had  an  excellent  architect  of  their 
own  number,  Lemuel  Porter,  from  Waterbury,  Conn. 
He  drew  a  church  plan  and  provided  the  specifica- 
tions. The  building  committee  then  called  a  public 
meeting  at  which  the  x^lan  and  the  specifications  were 
accepted  and  every  man  was  requested  to  state  what 
he  would  furnish.  Provision  was  soon  made  for 
every  stick  of  timber.  A  day  was  appointed  some 
time  in  the  early  winter  on  which  all  this  timber  was 
to  be  brought  to  the  site  selected  for  the  sanctuary. 
As  the  time  drew  near,  signs  of  prei)aration  were  every- 
where visible,  and  it  was  evident  that  there  w^ould  be 
few  Tallmadge  men  who  would  not  participate  in  the 
happy  event.  To  stimulate  ambition  the  chairman 
of  the  building  committee,  Reuben  Beach,  from  my 
owai  native  town,  made  a  public  offer  of  a  gallon  of 
whiskey  to  the  man  who  on  the  designated  Monday 
morning  should  "land  the  first  stick  of  timber." 
Many  teams  were  on  hand  very  early.  In  fact,  it  was 
yet  in  the  small  hours  when  the  prize  was  claimed 
and  x^romptly  given.  Only  a  few  months  ago  I  saw 
the  wooden  gallon  bottle  in  which  it  was  delivered. 
Those  men  are  not  to  be  judged  by  the  standard  of 
the  present.  That  was  before  the  i)hrase  "total  ab- 
stinence "  was  coined,  or  the  loractice  of  it  accepted 
as  a  rule  of  morals.  The  enthusiasm  of  that  occasion 
was  not  the  boisterous  mirth  of  a  bachanalian  revel, 
but  the  rational  earnestness  of  men  wdio  w^ere  deter- 
mined to  erect  an  edifice  in  wdiich  they  and  their 
children  might  assemble  for  religious  instruction  and 
worship.  I  co=operated  in  the  raising  of  that  church 
in  1822.  It  stands  to-day  in  excellent  order,  a  model 
of  country  church  architecture.     Its  shingles  were  all 


A  STARTLIXG  SUGGESTIOX  65 

made  from  a  single  chestnut  tree  and  have  never 
needed  renewal.  A  part  of  the  tree  not  wrought  into 
shingles  is  now  lying  where  it  originally  fell.  On  a 
recent  visit  to  the  place,  I  brought  away  a  fragment 
as  a  relic. 

At  this  point,  it  is  proi^er  to  mention  a  discussion 
which  gave  me  my  hrst  impressions  of  those  ecclesi- 
astical divisions  which  have  since  caused  me  so  much 
sorrow.  Almost  all  of  the  churches  of  the  Western 
Reserve  were  originally  Congregational,  being  chiefly 
comiDosed  of  emigrants  from  New  England.  A  few, 
however,  were  Presbyterian,  connected  with  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburgh,  having  been  organized  by  emigrants 
from  western  Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  favorite  idea 
of  almost  all  the  ministers,  whether  of  Presbyterian 
or  Congregational  origin,  that  it  was  desirable  to  com- 
prehend within  one  organization  both  the  Congrega- 
tional and  the  Presbyterian  churches  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  difficult  and  sometimes  impossible  to 
persuade  these  churches  to  renounce  the  polity  of  their 
fathers  for  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church  govern- 
ment. During  my  residence  on  the  reserve  the  Presby- 
terian churches  of  that  region  were  erected  into  the 
Presbytery  of  the  Western  Reserve,  and  to  facilitate 
the  comprehension  of  the  Congregational  churches  un- 
der the  same  jurisdiction,  that  Presbytery  was  permit- 
ted to  frame  for  itself  a  constitution  supplementary  to 
the  constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  contained 
in  its  book  of  discii^line,  granting  to  Congregational 
churches  coming  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  the  privilege  of  conducting  their  internal 
affairs  according  to  the  usages  of  Congregational 
churches.  Most  of  the  latter  adopted  the  plan  without 


66  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

much  hesitation.  Some  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
Talhnadge  church  were,  however,  strongly  averse  to  the 
scheme,  and  raised  objections  which  caused  much  delay 
and  debate.  Several  committees  of  the  Presbytery  vis- 
ited the  church  and  endeavored  to  remove  objection  and 
secure  acquiescence.  As  the  constitution  j^rovided 
for  changes  in  the  organic  instrument,  several  amend- 
ments were  from  time  to  time  made  to  obviate  objec- 
tions raised  in  the  Tallmadge  church.  Finally  it 
came  to  this:  that  as  the  constitution  was  amendable, 
it  was  feared  that  the  jjarticular  article  extending  to 
Congregationalists  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  mode 
of  church  government,  would,  after  a  time,  be  abol- 
ished. This  fear  was  reported  to  the  Presbytery,  and 
to  remove  it  a  clause  was  introduced  into  the  consti- 
tution providing  that  this  particular  article  should 
never  be  amended. 

This  change  silenced  the  opponents  for  a  time,  and 
the  amendment  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  the 
church  against  tlie  judgment  of  some  of  its  most 
influential  members.  Though  I  was  a  minor  and 
therefore  not  a  voter,  I  was  an  attentive  listener 
during  all  these  animated  discussions.  I  did  not 
fully  understand  the  difference  between  the  two  sys- 
tems, and  had  imbibed  no  strong  preference  for  one 
or  the  other.  I  could  not  symphathize  with  or  com- 
prehend the  zeal  of  the  ministers  in  recommending 
the  merging  of  Congregationalism  in  Presbyterianism, 
and  did  not  clearly  see  our  need  of  the  good  care 
which  they  promised  us,  or  discover  what  they  could 
do  for  us.  Neither  did  I  understand  why  they  could 
not  co-operate  with  us  as  we  were,  as  well  as  if  we 
were  comprehended  in  the  Presbytery.     On  the  other 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  67 

hand  I  did  not  quite  see  why  those  among  ns  who 
were  opposed  to  the  union  were  so  intense  in  their 
opiDosition.  Time  showed  me,  long  afterwards,  that 
the  question  had  bearings  I  did  not  then  appreciate, 
and  which  were  imperfectly  understood  by  those  to 
whom  I  listened.  The  plan  of  union  in  one  respect 
wrought  injury  to  Presbyterianism.  The  compre- 
hension of  large  numbers  of  Congregational  churches, 
with  their  separate  church  government,  within  the 
pale  of  Presbyterianism,  was  the  principal  cause  of 
the  great  disruption  that  came  a  few  years  later; 
an  event  which  all  must  feel  to  have  been  a  very  sad 
chapter  in  the  religious  history  of  our  times.  The 
shock  of  that  disruption  caused  a  large  portion  of  the 
churches  formerly  Congregational  to  return  to  the 
simpler  church  system  of  their  fathers.  The  plan  of 
union  was  also  unfortunate  for  Congregationalism. 
It  did  not,  as  its  friends  had  hoped,  prevent  the 
division  of  the  Western  Reserve  between  the  two  de- 
nominations. But  by  it,  the  Presbyterian  party 
was  greatly  strengthened  and  the  Congregational 
party  greatly  weakened. 

During  the  winter  of  1820-21  we  were  given  to 
understand  that  in  the  judgment  of  our  teacher  we 
might  be  j)repared  to  enter  college  the  following 
autumn.  He  was  a  much  better  Latin  than  Greek 
scholar,  and  in  this  resjiect  his  pupils  were  like  their 
teacher.  We  had  read  more  Latin  than  is  now  re- 
quired for  admission  to  any  of  our  colleges.  Pursu- 
ing our  studies  to  a  considerable  extent  without  a 
teacher,  we  generally  read  our  Latin  authors  several 
times  over.  We  often  wrote  out  the  translation  of  an 
oration  of  Cicero  or  a  book  of  Virgil  entire.     I  be- 


68  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

came  so  familiar  with  the  ^iieid,  the  Georgics  and 
the  Bucolics  of  Virgil,  that  in  later  years  I  some- 
times amused  my  friends  by  promising  that  on  hear- 
ing two  consecutive  lines  from  either  of  them  read  in 
Latin,  I  would  without  fail  immediately  tell  from 
which  book  they  were  taken,  and  give  the  train  of 
thought  or  narrative  accompanying  them.  This 
familiarity  with  the  Latin  authors  has  been  a  great 
advantage  to  me. 

In  Greek  I  was  much  less  fortunate.  We  had  no 
access  to  Greek  authors.  I  had  only  the  "Grseca 
Minora,"  a  rather  meager  selection  from  various 
authors,  and  the  Greek  Testament.  Through  my 
preparatory  and  collegiate  courses  I  had  access  to  no 
Greek  dictionary  except  the  Schrevellii  Lexicon.  It 
was  never  intended  to  be  a  thesaurus  of  the  lan- 
guage, but  only  of  Homer  and  the  Greek  Testament, 
and  the  meaning  of  Greek  words  was  given  only  in 
Latin.  These  very  limited  appliances  for  study  had 
the  advantage  of  throwing  me  upon  my  own  resources. 
When  unable  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  a  Greek  word  I 
taxed  my  memory  to  recall  other  passages  in  which  I 
had  met  it  before,  and  from  the  collocation  of  the 
word  4  in  those  passages  I  determined  the  exact  sense 
in  which  the  word  was  used.  I  was  thus  forced  to  go 
back  of  the  dictionary  and  emi3loy  the  methods  by 
which  dictionaries  are  made.  But  from  defective 
preparation  I  labored  under  difficulties  in  Greek 
through  my  whole  college  course  and  my  subsequent 
life. 

Where  shall  we  go  to  college,  how  shall  we  raise 
money  enough  to  get  there,  and  how  shall  we  live 
when  there?     These  three  questions  had  now  come  to 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTIOlSr  69 

the  front.  As  to  the  first  of  them,  our  friend  Wright 
had  decided  to  go  to  Yale,  and  my  brother  and  I  were 
also  bent  on  accompanying  him.  But  the  question  of 
ways  and  means  would  have  troubled  more  experi- 
enced financiers  than  ourselves;  indeed  it  would  have 
troubled  them  more  than  it  did  us.  They  would  have 
insisted  on  a  definite  solution,  but  we  were  inclined 
to  act  on  the  maxim,  "  Never  cross  a  bridge  till  you 
come  to  it."  If  we  could  find  a  way  to  reach  Yale 
College,  we  determined  to  trust  for  the  means  of 
living  there  to  the  resources  that  might  develop  them- 
selves on  the  spot.  It  may  appear  strange  that  our 
parents  should  consent  that  two  sons,  one  of  whom 
had  not  reached  the  age  of  seventeen  while  the  other 
was  scarcely  nineteen,  should  trj^  their  fortunes  at 
Yale  with  absolutely  no  resources  to  depend  upon. 
It  was  a  venture  which  nothing  could  excuse  but 
their  firm  trust  in  Providence.  It  must  also  be  re- 
membered that  we  had  a  grandmother  and  an  uncle 
and  aunt  living  only  forty  miles  from  New  Haven  to 
whom  we  could  go  in  case  of  necessity. 

We  at  once  addressed  ourselves  to  the  problem  of 
raising  the  money  for  our  journey.  We  naturally 
took  our  friend  Wright  into  our  counsels.  So  far  as 
ready  money  was  concerned,  he  was  in  almost  the 
same  predicament  as  ourselves,  for  although  his  father 
had  considerable  property  it  could  not  be  sold  for 
cash.  Without  him  I  know  not  how  we  could  have 
solved  the  problem.  Our  beehives  were  our  only 
resource.  Beeswax  was  one  of  the  very  few  things 
that  met  with  ready  sale,  and  a  little  of  our  delicious 
honey  could  sometimes  be  sold  for  cash.  At  first  it 
seemed  impossible  to  make  our  little  capital  suffice 


70  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

for  the  long  journey.  Yet  a  way  was  found.  Wright 
obtained  from  his  brother^n-law,  Rev.  Wm.  Hanford, 
to  whom  we  had  been  indebted  for  so  many  acts  of 
kindness,  a  horse,  which  though  too  old  to  be  of  much 
use  in  his  missionary  journeys,  was  quite  adequate  to 
the  trip  we  proposed  to  take.  We  were  able  to  pro- 
cure, by  selling  j)roperty  which  we  felt  able  to  spare, 
a  onediorse  vehicle  which,  though  worn  and  unsightly, 
was  thought  to  be  safe  for^the  purpose.  Another  young 
man  who,  though  not  a  student,  wished  to  join  us  in 
an  inexpensive  trip  to  New  England,  was  permitted  to 
do  so  on  condition  of  his  sharing  equally  in  the  out- 
lays. In  the  wagon  were  stored  such  provisions  as 
could  be  carried,  ready  cooked  for  use  by  the  way, 
and  our  necessary  wearing  apparel.  Besides  the 
boxes  which  contained  these  supplies  there  was  room 
for  a  seat  for  two  persons.  Thus  equipped,  we  consid- 
ered ourselves  ready  for  the  journey. 

I  regret  that  I  have  lost  the  exact  date  of  that 
eventful  start,  the  outset  of  my  new  life,  but  it  was 
doubtless  in  the  month  of  June,  1822.  - 

I  well  remember  the  events  of  that  morning  and 
the  call  we  received  from  Mr.  Owen  Brown  of  Hud- 
son, father  of  the  famous  John  Brown  of  the  Harper's 
Ferry  raid.  He  was  a  tanner  by  trade  and  one  of  the 
worst  stammerers  I  ever  knew,  but  known  in  all  that 
region  as  a  conspicuously  religious  man.  I  remember 
well  my  distress  when  once  sent  to  his  house  upon  an 
errand,  and  obliged  by  certain  circumstances  to 
remain  there  for  the  night,  at  the  thought  that  I  must 
listen  to  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and  the  offering  of 
prayer  by  one  who  stammered  so  badly.  I  need  not 
have  been  concerned.     He  read  the  Scriptures  almost 


A  STARTLING  SUGGESTION  71 

without  hesitation,  and  when  we  rose  according  to  the 
custom  and  he  began  to  pray,  his  voice  became  per- 
fectly clear  and  distinct  and  his  utterance  free  and 
flowing.  I  have  seldom  joined  in  a  prayer  of  equal 
freedom,  aiDjDropriateness  and  fervor.  His  son,  after- 
wards so  celebrated,  was  present,  being  at  that  time 
in  business  with  his  father. 

But  I  return  to  the  day  of  our  departure  from  home. 
It  was  a  day  long  anticipated  with  ardent  hope  and 
yet  painful  apprehension.  In  the  six  years  that  we 
had  lived  in  that  cabin  the  aspect  around  it  had 
greatly  changed.  Much  of  the  forest  had  disappeared. 
Not  only  upon  our  farm  but  on  the  neighboring 
acres,  it  had  given  place  to  cultivated  fields.  The 
cabin,  however,  remained  the  same,  except  that 
another  room  had  been  added.  As  we  saw  our  enter- 
prise that  morning  there  was  much  in  it  that  was 
distressing.  It  seemed  hard  and  cruel  to  leave  as  we 
did  our  parents  and  the  two  young  children.  For 
ourselves  the  journey  seemed  adventurous,  perilous, 
and  even  chimerical, 

I  do  not  wonder  that  after  breakfast  that  morning 
when  we  gathered  once  more  for  family  prayers  and 
my  father  read  for  our  parting  Scrii^ture  lesson  the 
twenty=seventh  Psalm,  which  begins:  "  The  Lord  is 
my  light  and  my  salvation ;  whom  shall  I  fear  ?  The 
Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life;  of  whom  shall  I  be 
afraid?  " — I  say,  I  do  not  wonder  that  when  he  came 
to  the  tenth  verse,  "When  my  father  and  mother 
forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me  up,"  his  voice 
became  utterly  choked  and  he  could  proceed  no 
further.  We  were  weejping  in  silence  together  when 
Mr.  Owen  Brown  providentially  came  in.     He  com- 


72  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

prehended  the  situation  at  once,  took  the  Bible  from 
my  father's  hand,  read  the  Psahn,  and  offered  a  prayer 
full  of  fervor  and  pathos.  The  prayer  ended,  we  said 
our  farewells,  and  drove  from  that  humble  but  dear 
abode  to  which  as  my  home  I  was  to  return  no  more. 
The  i^lan  to  leave  it  was  not  my  own.  Only  by  a  long 
and  painful  discipline  were  my  feelings  brought  to 
accept  it.  That  was  a  sad  morning  to  us  all,  yet  far 
away  in  the  future  we  discerned  a  region  bright  with 
hojDe.  Only  twice  after  our  departure  for  college,  and 
then  for  only  brief  visits,  did  I  return  to  that  spot 
endeared  to  my  heart  by  such  a  multitude  of  tender 
associations. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

OUR  PILGRIMAGE. 

That  eventful  journey  need  not  occupy  in  this  nar- 
rative a  space  in  proportion  to  the  labor  and  the 
anxiety  it  cost  us.  The  peculiar  character  of 
that  outfit  might  well  have  caused  some  speculation 
in  the  minds  of  those  whom  we  met  by  the  way. 
Few  would  probably  have  guessed  from  our  appear- 
ance that  we  were  a  company  of  youth  on  our  way 
to  drink  at  those  fountains  of  knowledge  ojjened  by 
our  ancestors  in  the  land  of  our  birth,  five 
hundred  miles  away.  Our  mode  of  traveling  was 
not  new,  and  it  already  had  the  name  "ride  and  tie." 
Our  wagon  could  only  furnish  seats  for  two,  and  our 
horse  must  not  be  overtaxed.  Two  of  us  drove  three 
or  four  miles,  tied  the  horse  by  the  road  side,  and 
walked  on.  The  others  walked  till  they  came  to  the 
horse  and  in  their  turn  rode  three  or  four  miles,  pass- 
ing the  first  two  on  the  way.  Thus  the  days  passed. 
There  was  not  much  danger  that  the  horse  and  vehi- 
cle would  be  stolen;  for  tramps  were  rare  in  those 
days,  and  besides,  our  turnout  was  not  very  tempt- 
ing to  thieves.  The  first  Sabbath  was  spent  in  Erie, 
Penn.  We  passed  through  the  site  of  Buffalo  with- 
out suspecting  that  the  mouth  of  that  little  creek 
marked  the  future  location  of  a  beautiful  city.  The 
second  Sabbath  we  rested  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  where 
my  mother's  brother,  Cyrus  Tanner,  resided. 

73 


74  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Though  our  coming  was  a  surprise,  he  and  his 
family  received  their  "backwoods"  cousins  very 
kindly.  We  attended  with  them  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  a  beautiful  structure,  and  greatly  en- 
joyed the  preaching  of  their  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Axtell. 
We  spent  the  third  Sabbath  at  Canaan,  N.  Y.,  only 
a  short  distance  from  Canaan,  Conn.,  from  which 
place  friend  Wright's  father  had  emigrated  to  Ohio, 
and  where  also  Silas  Beckley,  the  husband  of  my 
mother's  sister  Lydia,  resided.  As  we  stopped  on 
Monday  at  my  aunt's  door  our  vehicle  and  its  pas- 
sengers excited  no  small  wonder;  and  though  our 
coming  was  not  entirely  unexpected  we  were  not  at 
first  recognized  by  our  relatives.  On  giving  our 
names  we  were  joyfully  welcomed,  and  there  we  re- 
mained several  weeks  before  continuing  our  journey 
toward  New  Haven.  My  uncle  and  aunt,  gravely 
questioning  the  wisdom  of  our  plans  and  doubting 
whether  two  boys  just  from  the  back  woods  could  really 
be  fitted  for  college,  proposed  to  place  us  for  the  two 
months  and  a  half  intervening  before  the  opening  of 
the  fall  term  under  the  instruction  of  their  pastor,  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  that  he  might  assist  us  in  supply- 
ing deficiencies.  We  distrusted  ourselves,  and  glad- 
ly accepted  the  proposition.  Our  studies  were  re- 
sumed immediately  and  continued  till  within  two  or 
three  weeks  of  the  opening  of  the  term. 

Our  vehicle  then  conveyed  us  to  Warren,  which 
was  about  twenty  miles  on  the  direct  road  to  New 
Haven.  The  emotions  that  filled  my  heart  on  return- 
ing to  the  scenes  of  my  youth  can  never  be  forgotten 
or  described.  I  lived  my  childhood  over  again 
that  day.     That  Friday  afternoon  (the  next  Sabbath 


OUR  PILGRIMAGE  76 

being  the  communion)  was  the  time  for  the  "Pre- 
paratory Lecture."  As  we  drove  along  the  principal 
street  of  the  town  we  recognized  nearly  all  the  faces 
of  those  returning  from  the  lecture.  Even  those  who 
had  changed  much,  like  ourselves,  we  knew  by  their 
family  resemblances.  We  were  recognized  by  no 
one.  We  were  like  j^neas  entering  into  Carthage 
under  the  cloud  in  which  Venus  had  involved  him. 

"  Infert  se  septus  nebula,  mirabile  dictu. 
Per  medios,  miscetque  viris:  neque  cernitur  uUi." 

We  drove  directly  to  what  had  been  from  my  ear- 
liest recollection  the  home  of  my  grandmother,  where 
my  loved  uncle,  Joseph  A.  Tanner,  then  lived. 

We  were  admitted  as  strangers,  and  though  every 
face  was  as  familiar  to  us  as  those  we  had  left  at  the 
cabin  home,  no  one  recognized  us  till  we  made  our- 
selves known.  Then  we  were  received  as  lost  sons 
returned.  To  have  left  a  childhood  home  at  eleven 
years  of  age,  and  to  return  to  it  after  distant  wander- 
ings at  seventeen,  is  an  impressive  experience.  The 
vivid  recognition  of  familiar  faces  and  objects  fills 
one  with  a  strange  delight.  Every  hill  and  valley, 
every  stone  by  the  roadside,  is  charged  with  some 
sweet  memory  of  "  long,  long  ago,"  and  of  the  loved 
ones  who  hallowed  those  years. 

The  past  seemed  to  have  taken  possession  of  the 
present,  and  we  were  boys  again.  To  this  almost 
perfect  restoration  of  the  j)ast,  there  was  one  very 
striking  exception.  While  the  minutest  objects  were 
recognized  and  everything  seemed  set  in  its  true  re- 
lations, the  scale  of  the  whole  scene  was  greatly  re- 
duced. Nothing  was  so  long  or  so  broad  or  so  high 
as  imagination  had  conceived.     What  was  seen  was 


76  -  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

but  a  miniature  of  wliat  was  remembered.  The  hill 
had  been  dwarfed.  The  plain  at  its  top  had  been 
shortened.  The  bowlder  had  been  diminished  in  size. 
All  our  ideas  of  distance  and  magnitude  are  relative. 
To  an  infant,  the  journey  across  the  room  seems  long. 
When  he  can  walk  all  over  the  house  his  first  impres- 
sions are  corrected.  When  we  have  only  ranged  the 
streets  of  our  native  town,  and  have  climbed  its  hills 
and  explored  its  valleys  with  the  short  steps  of  early 
boyhood,  our  conceptions  of  its  extent  are  in  har- 
mony with  the  mental  vision  of  childhood.  But  with 
larger  observation  the  horizon  expands,  and  hills, 
mountains  and  plains  are  judged  by  a  new  standard. 
A  similar  change  takes  place  in  our  estimate  of  time. 
How  slowly  the  moments  come  and  go  in  our  child- 
hood. The  middle  age  days  are  as  hours.  To  old 
age  years  are  as  months,  and  the  world  grows  small 
as  we  prejDare  to  leave  it.  The  distance  from  the 
earth  to  the  planet  Neiitune  may,  in  some  future 
time,  appear  to  us  no  greater  than  that  from  New 
York  to  London  does  now. 

The  short  interval  before  the  opening  of  the 
term  was  spent  in  visiting  dear  friends,  and  in  mak- 
ing pre^jaration  for  our  new  life.  My  warmdiearted 
uncle  Josejih,  gladly  furthered  our  plans  and  under- 
took to  convey  us  to  New  Haven  in  his  own  vehicle. 
When  at  last  we  were  on  our  way  the  three  boys  were 
under  no  ordinary  excitement,  and  my  staid  and 
sober  uncle  was  almost  equally  moved.  Such  a  load 
he  had  never  before  carried  to  New  Haven,  The 
day  was  fair  and  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Connecticut 
were  radiant  with  soft  October  sunlight.  Well  do  I 
remember  our  first  view  of  salt  water,  and  the  feeling 


OUR  PILGRIMAGE  77 

it  awakened,  as  suddenly  on  reaching  the  top  of  a 
ridge  we  caught  sight  of  Long  Island  Sound 
stretching  far  away  in  the  distance.  Just  as  the 
evening  shadows  were  beginning  to  fall  we  drove 
down  Elm  Street,  turned  into  College  Street,  and 
passed  in  front  of  the  row  of  buildings  somewhat 
resembling  barracks,  which  then  furnished  a  home 
for  Yale  College.  Excitement  rose  to  fever  heat. 
That  was  our  Mecca:  our  pilgrimage  was  ended  We 
turned  down  Chapel  Street  and  took  our  lodging  for 
the  night  at  a  very  unpretending  "  Inn"  on  the  left 
hand  side  of  Chapel,  just  below  the  corner  of 
Church  Street.  My  uncle  saw  the  good,  fatherly 
President  Day  that  evening  and  told  him  what  sort 
of  a  load  he  had  brought  to  market.  The  president 
gave  him  kindly  encouragement,  and  directed  us  to 
Ijresent  ourselves  for  examination  at  nine  o'clock  the 
next  morning. 

The  examination  proved  that  we  really  did  know 
something  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages,  but 
the  test  did  not  seem  to  us  very  severe.  It  lasted 
perhaps  an  hour,  and  then  we  were  informed  of  our 
admission  to  the  Freshman  class.  We  were  happy 
lads.  Having  learned  the  dining  hours,  and  by  what 
door  to  enter  the  dining  hall,  we  were  admitted  to 
such  provisions  as  Yale  supplied  both  for  soul  and 
body.  As  all  the  college  rooms  had  been  engaged, 
we  found  a  small  room  not  far  away  which  we  could 
occupy  till  a  vacancy  should  occur.  My  uncle  depos- 
ited our  few  effects  in  our  room,  and  now,  as  he  had 
seen  us  fully  entered  as  college  students,  he  left  us 
with  a  light  heart.  If,  as  I  believe,  the  petitions  of  the 
devout  avail  with  God,  I  owe  much  to  that  crood  uncle's 


78  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

prayers.  If  it  should  seem  to  any  of  my  readers  that 
my  enthusiasm  to  obtain  an  education  at  Yale  Col- 
lege was  excessive,  my  reply  is  that  the  institution 
proved  all  that  I  had  fervently  anticipated.  There 
is  nothing  in  my  life  to  which  I  look  back 
with  more  entire  approbation  than  the  journey  thus 
ended  at  New  Haven.  Yale,  or  some  other  college 
very  much  like  it,  was  an  indisi^ensable  condition  of 
my  entering  any  career  in  which  I  could  have  used 
for  the  good  of  my  fellow=men  the  talents,  great  or 
small,  which  God  gave  me. 

As  I  have  intimated,  my  first  college  experience 
was  eating  dinner.  I  was  about  to  say  it  was  in  the 
old  College  Commons.  That  would  have  been  a  mis- 
take, for  in  the  language  of  the  time  it  was  at  the 
New  College  Commons.  The  old  one  was  a  one 
story  building  which  had  become  too  small  for  the 
purpose  and  was  now  used  as  a  laboratory  by  Profes- 
sor Benj.  Silliman.  The  New  Commons  was  a  rather 
comely  edifice,  the  upper  story  of  which  long  con- 
tained the  "cabinet  of  minerals."  It  consisted  of 
two  large  dining  halls,  with  a  stairway  between  them, 
leading  down  to  a  large  basement  kitchen.  The 
Seniors  and  the  Sophomores  occupied  the  south 
room,  and  the  Freshmen  and  Juniors  the  north  room. 
Three  times  a  day  these  two  halls  were  densely 
packed  with  about  three  hundred  students.  At  the 
ringing  of  the  old  college  bell  at  one  o'clock  I  joined 
the  crowd  that  was  pressing  toward  the  door  leading 
to  the  Freshman  tables.  For  a  day  or  two  each  one  was 
allowed  to  find  his  own  seat.  On  a  platform  against 
the  wall,  and  raised  high  enough  to  overlook  us  all, 
was  a  small  table  at  which  two  or  three  persons  look- 


OUR  PILGRIMAGE  79 

ing  not  much  older  but  a  great  deal  more  dignified 
than  the  rest  of  us,  took  their  seats.  They  were  tutors- 
Soon  one  of  them  struck  two  or  three  smart  blows  on 
the  table  with  the  handle  of  his  knife,  and  at  the  signal 
all  rose  in  their  places  while  a  tutor  invoked  the  di- 
vine blessing  in  a  few  words.  We  then  took  our 
seats  again,  when  a  wonderful  clatter  of  knives  and 
forks  began.  What  a  contrast  this  was  to  dinner  in 
the  dear  old  cabin  at  home.  There  was  a  sudden 
pause  in  the  clatter,  followed  by  a  loud  outburst  of 
laughter.  A  tall  figure  of  very  singular  appearance 
had  just  entered  the  door.  He  was  as  youthful  as 
the  rest  of  us  but  his  hair  was  as  white  as  the  driven 
snow.  His  complexion  was  also  wonderfully  white, 
until  astonished  at  the  sensation  he  had  caused,  he 
blushed  deeply  as  he  hastened  to  a  vacant  chair. 
His  dress  indicated  that  he  was  from  the  country, 
though  the  costume  was  not  half  so  rustic  as  my 
own.  That  man  bore  the  now  long-honored  name  of 
John  P.  Cowles.  He  had  his  revenge  upon  us  for 
that  rudeness,  for  on  the  day  of  our  graduation  he 
delivered  the  valedictory. 

That  group  of  students  was  a  strange  medley.  The 
families  of  merchant  princes  of  New  York,  Boston 
and  Philadelphia;  of  aristocratic  cotton  planters;  of 
harddianded  New  England  farmers;  of  Ohio  back- 
woodsmen, and  even  the  humblest  sons  of  daily  toil 
were  there,  sitting  at  the  same  tables.  However  dis- 
tasteful this  might  be  to  many,  there  was  no  help  for 
it.  Those  who  wished  to  be  educated  at  Yale,  the 
Alma  Mater  of  so  many  distinguished  men,  where 
the  name  of  John  C.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina  was 
still  held  in  honor  as  a  favorite  pupil  of  Dr.    Dwight, 


80  •  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

were  compelled  to  accept  tliis  indiscriminate  inter- 
mingling of  the  rich  and  the  poor.  Yale  College  in 
1822  was  the  most  democratic  portion  of  American 
society. 

A  question  will  here  naturally  suggest  itself.  How 
was  I,  with  my  confessedly  meager  resources,  to  be 
admitted  at  once  into  such  a  boardingdiouse?  Our 
venerable  mother  Yale,  had  some  peculiar  ways  in 
dealing  with  her  numerous  family  of  boys.  She  took 
into  consideration  the  iDeculiar  conditions  and 
needs  of  each  student,  and  did  not  treat  all  exactly 
alike.  She  kindly  permitted  me  to  enjoy  the  good 
things  of  her  dining  rooms  and  her  halls  of  instruc- 
tion with  the  full  understanding  that  I  would  pay  my 
way  as  fast  as  I  could.  None  of  her  bills  were  due 
till  the  end  of  the  term.  I  was  then  expected  to  pay 
what  I  could  and  give  my  note  for  the  rest.  From 
those  students  who  had  abundant  resources  a  bond* 
with  responsible  endorsement  was  required,  covering 
the  full  amount  of  the  indebtedness  each  would  be 
likely  to  incur  in  the  whole  four  year's  course,  while 
from  those  who,  like  myself,  had  no  money  and  in  a 
business  way  no  credit,  no  security  was  required  but 
a  personal  note  with  evidence  of  a  disposition  to  pay 
as  fast  as  possible.  In  further  evidence  of  Yale's 
liberality  I  will  mention  that  I  several  times  found 
credit  in  my  term  bills  which  rejDresented  no  pay- 
ments by  myself  into  the  treasury.  This  very  un- 
usual and  liberal  system  seems  to  have  worked  well 
in  my  case.  It  enabled  me  to  continue  in  college, 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  impossible.  And 
in  the  end  I  paid  all  charges  made  against  me  on 
the  college  books,  both  principal  and  interest.     The 


OUR  PILGRIMAGE  81 

generous  treatment  received  from   the   Yale   author- 
ities I  shall  hold  in  lifelong  grateful  remembrance. 

I  will  not  pass  without  honorable  mention  the  aid 
received  from  the  American  Education  Society.  I 
made  early  ax^plication  for  its  assistance,  and  quar- 
terly appropriations  were  kindly  forwarded  during 
the  first  three  years  of  my  life  in  college.  My  college 
course  would  scarcely  have  been  possible  without  it. 
During  the  most  of  my  Senior  year,  and  throughout 
my  seminary  studies,  I  voluntarily  dispensed  with 
Society  aid,  though  not  without  a  severe  struggle.  I 
felt  so  keenly  the  difficulties  inseparable  from  a  proper 
administering  of  charitable  funds,  and  the  complica- 
tions which  often  arise  in  distinguishing  the  worthy 
from  the  unworthy,  that  I  chose  to  be  independent. 
But  who  will  ever  know  what  that  declaration  of  inde- 
pendent  cost  in  personal  sacrifices?  Perhaps  the 
''perfect  system"  for  aiding  young  men  and  young- 
women  in  preparing  for  the  life  struggle  has  not  even 
yet  been  discovered.  It  is  sometimes  said  that "  We 
weaken  Christian  character  by  bestowing  too  much 
aid."  No  such  mistake  was  made  in  my  case.  The 
aid  generously  given  me  was  not  too  abundant.  All 
that  I  received  from  that  source  was  not  sufficient  to 
pay  my  board.  It  is  certainly  very  difficult  to  so  bestow 
aid  upon  struggling  humanity  as  not  to  pauperize  it. 
We  are  trying  to  solve  this  problem  on  an  immense 
scale  in  our  public  school  system.  May  that  attemjpt 
not  prove  a  sad  and  disastrous  failure!  With  the  un- 
bounded kindness  and  generous  assistance  received, 
my  whole  college  and  theological  seminary  life  was 
one  long  struggle  with  the  "res  angustae  domus."  Yet 
I  am  by  no  means  sure  that   that  struggle  was  not 


82  JULIAN  M.  STUETEVANT 

eminently  salutary,  or  that  it  could  have  been  made 
less  severe  except  to  my  disadvantage.  I  have  great 
faith  in  that  divine  Providence  which  adapted  the  con- 
ditions of  my  training  to  the  work  I  was  to  do.  Surely 
the  conditions  of  my  childhood  and  youth  were  well 
fitted  to  train  me  for  a  life  of  patient  endurance.  I 
might  have  been  quite  willing  to  have  dispensed  with 
much  of  that  discipline,  but  my  heavenly  Father  an- 
derstood  the  case  better  than  I  did. 


CHAPTER  V. 

LIFE  IN  COLLEGE. 

A  picture  of  that  assemblage  at  prayers  on  the  first 
evening  of  my  college  life  might  perhaps  interest  more 
recent  graduates.  We  were  gathered  in  the  old,  old 
Chapel,  not  the  one  which  was  abandoned  when  Bat- 
tell  was  consecrated,  but  the  still  older  one  that  must 
have  come  down  from  Revolutionary  times  and  was 
abandoned  in  1824.  It  occupied  the  lower  stories  of 
the  building  since  known  as  the  Athenseum. 

The  pulpit,  situated  on  the  west  side  of  the  room, 
was  very  high  and  was  hexagonal  in  shape,  as  was 
also  the  sounding=board  over  it.  The  room  was  en- 
tered from  the  front  by  a  single  door.  The  seats  were 
in  parallel  rows  fronting  a  central  aisle,  which  ex- 
tended from  the  door  to  the  pulpit.  The  ground  floor 
was  occupied  by  the  Seniors,  the  Sophomores  and  the 
Juniors,  the  Freshmen  being  accomodated  in  the  gal- 
leries that  projected  from  three  sides  of  the  room. 
Yale  had  at  that  time  about  850  students.  When  all 
were  assembled  the  little  chapel  seemed  densely 
packed  from  floor  to  ceiling.  While  the  last  bell  was 
ringing  the  president  entered,  when  all  arose  and  the 
Senior  class,  occupying  the  seats  fronting  the  aisle, 
bowed  resiDCctfuUy,  and  the  bow  was  very  gracefully 
returned.  I  cherish  in  pleasant  memory  these  mani- 
festations of  respect  to  persons  rendered  venerable  by 
age  or  honored  by  official  station,   and  regard  their 

83 


84  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

gradual  disappearance  from  American  life  with  pro- 
found regret.  At  evening  prayers,  a  tutor  briefly 
invoked  a  blessing,  read  a  short  portion  of  Scripture, 
announced  a  hymn  to  be  sung  by  the  excellent  choir, 
and  then  offered  prayer.  This  simijle  service  being 
ended  the  president  descended  from  the  pulpit,  the 
students  remaining  quietly  in  their  places  till  he 
passed  down  the  aisle,  he  receiving  and  returning  the 
obeisance  of  the  Senior  class  as  on  entering,  Then 
the  crowd  closed  behind  him,  and  the  students  re- 
paired to  the  dining'hall  for  supper.  The  study  hours 
were  from  seven  till  nine,  during  which  period  every 
student  was  expected  to  be  in  his  room  deeply  engaged 
in  work,  an  expectation,  however,  not  always  realized. 
Morning  prayers  differed  from  the  evening  service 
only  in  the  absence  of  singing.  In  this  service,  the 
tutor  of  the  day  read  the  Scri^Dtures,  and  the  presi- 
dent offered  the  prayer.  Morning  prayers  and  the 
recitation  which  immediately  followed  preceded 
breakfast.  It  is  wonderful  that  this  monastic  cus- 
tom survived  so  long  in  our  American  colleges.  I 
was  always  punctual  in  attendance  u^Don  these  early 
exercises,  but  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  derive  any 
benefit  from  them.  It  was  simply  a  matter  of  endur- 
ance. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  Yale  from  1822  to 
1826  would  now  be  regarded  as  very  faulty  and  inade- 
quate; yet  it  did  exert  a  great  and  salutary  influence 
over  the  student.  It  accomplished  admirably  certain 
ends  in  the  development  of  mind,  and  those  ends  can- 
not be  ignored  in  our  present  improved  methods  with- 
out irreparable  injury.  Its  power  lay  in  its  fixed  and 
rigidly  prescribed  curriculum,  and  in  its  thorough 


LIFE  IX  COLLEGE  85 

drill.  For  the  first  three  years  of  the  course  the  work 
of  instruction  was  chiefly  done  by  the  tutors.  These 
were  generally  recent  graduates  who  had  attained 
high  distinction  in  their  several  classes,  and  had  not 
yet  entered  on  the  professional  careers  to  which  most 
of  them  were  destined.  Each  class  was  separated  by 
lot  into  two  or  three  equal  divisions,  each  under  the 
care  of  a  tutor.  My  own  class  was  the  first  one 
thought  large  enough  to  require  three  divisions. 
Each  tutor  generally  met  his  division  three  times 
daily.  Of  course  if  the  tutor  were  thoroughly  capa- 
ble it  was  no  misfortune  to  pursue  all  the  several 
branches  under  one  instructor;  but  if  he  were  incom- 
petent or  inefficient  his  pupils  suffered  correspond- 
ingly. 

The  tutors  were,  however,  generally  excellent  drilh 
masters.  They  could  hardly  be  said  to  teach  at  all, 
their  duties  being  to  subject  every  pupil  three  times 
a  day  to  so  searching  a  scrutiny  before  the  whole 
division  as  to  make  it  apjDarent  to  himself  and  all  his 
fellows  either  that  he  did  or  did  not  understand  his 
le.csons.  In  the  course  of  the  recitation  the  tutor 
would  furnish  needed  explanations  and  put  those 
who  were  trying  to  improve  in  a  way  to  do  better 
next  time.  It  was  considered  no  part  of  his  duty  to 
assist  his  jjupils  in  prej)aring  for  recitation.  In  that 
task  the  pupil  was  expected  to  be  entirely  self=reliant. 

Soon  after  entering  college  I  made  an  experiment 
which  showed  my  ignorance  of  this  system,  and 
taught  me  a  salutary  but  not  very  agreeable  lesson. 

One  of  the  studies  of  the  first  term  was  arithmetic, 
the  text  book  being  exceedingly  difficult  and  ab- 
struse.    In  our  examination  for  admission  arithmetic 


86  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

was  not  mentioned,  and  I  knew  very  little  of  it, 
having  taken  it  np  only  at  odd  intervals  by  myself, 
as  curiosity  prompted.  One  day  I  found  my  lesson 
utterly  ineompreliensible,  and  in  great  trouble  I  went 
to  the  tutor  for  help.  He  bowed  me  out  of  his  room, 
telling  me  that  it  was  not  customary  in  Yale  to  help 
a  student  in  his  lessons  until  after  the  recitation. 
You  may  be  sure  that  I  never  again  tried  that  exper- 
iment. My  friend  Wright  was  already  an  arithme- 
tician, and  as  soon  as  he  knew  my  perplexity  he  very 
kindly  gave  me  his  assistance.  But  when  he  ac- 
cepted an  ofifer  to  teach  a  New  London  school  for 
three  months,  that  prop  fell  out  from  under  me. 
While  accompanying  him  to  the  stage=ofRce,  I  told 
him  very  seriously  that  I  should  probably  not  be  in 
college  when  he  returned  on  account  of  my  miserable 
scholarship.  His  ridicule  did  not  insi^ire  me.  Still 
I  thought  it  advisable  to  make  one  desj)erate  effort  to 
walk  alone.  I  did  so,  and  finished  arithmetic  with 
credit. 

Let  me  say  here  that  I  do  not  regret  the  limited 
time  given  to  arithmetic  in  my  early  childhood.  I 
understood  arithmetic  far  better  when  I  had  finished 
that  treatise  at  Yale  than  I  should  have  done  had  it 
been  jDart  of  my  daily  bread  for  seven  years  of  my 
boyhood,  in  accordance  with  our  j^resent  public 
school  system.  In  these  days  i)upils  are  often 
wearied  with  arithmetic  before  the  process  of  mental 
development  has  rendered  it  possible  for  them  to  \\i\- 
derstand  it,  and  similar  abuses  exist  as  to  many  other 
branches.  We  exhaust  the  youthful  energies  by  im- 
pertinent interference  with  nature's  processes,  and 
waste  the  resources  of  the  taxpayers  by  legislative 


LIFE  in  COLLEGE  87 

appropriations  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a  "sys- 
tem" directly  at  variance  with  the  laws  that  govern 
mind.  A  child's  mental  development  can  no  more 
be  hurried  than  that  of  growing  corn.  If  the  sugars 
corn  in  my  garden  is  not  ripe  enough  for  the  table, 
I  discover  the  fact  after  I  have  torn  open  the  husks 
in  a  few  cases  and  examined  the  kernels,  and  I  leave 
it  to  grow.  We  are  less  wise  with  our  children,  and 
excuse  our  folly  by  claiming  that  we  cannot  wait  till 
they  have  reached  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  age 
before  teaching  them  the  science  of  numbers.  Time 
is  just  as  indispensable  in  developing  the  ideas  of 
number  and  quantity  as  in  bringing  to  perfection  the 
kernels  of  corn.  The  idea  of  unity  is  a  profound  ab- 
straction and  cannot  be  imparted  until  the  mind 
reaches  a  certain  stage  of  development. 

The  stern  discipline  of  Yale  College  was  of  great 
importance  to  us  all.  It  made  us  feel  the  necessity 
of  bringing  our  full  strength  to  our  daily  tasks.  It 
increased  the  zeal  and  earnestness  of  the  diligent, 
and  made  the  strong  stronger.  It  comj)elled  the  slow 
and  inert  to  j)ut  forth  all  their  energies.  If  they 
failed  to  do  so,  or  lacked  the  capacity  necessary  to 
master  such  a  curriculum,  it  soon  taught  them  what 
it  was  important  for  them  to  learn  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible, that  college  was  no  place  for  them.  There  can 
be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that  everyone 
who  is  to  fill  an  imxDortant  place  in  the  world  should 
be  sent  to  one.  There  are  millions  who  are  capable 
of  living  eminently  honorable  and  useful  lives  to 
whom  a  collegiate  education  is  neither  desirable  nor 
beneficial.  Colleges  should  afPord  the  best  possible 
preparation  for   those   adapted  to  a  professional  or 


88  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

literary  career.  It  is  desirable  that  the  preparatory 
school  or  the  college  should  weed  out  those  pupils  who 
are  not  adajDted  to  pursuits  demanding  the  j)ower  of 
sustained  and  independent  logical  thinking.  For  their 
own  good  they  should  be  led  by  another  road  to  other 
callings,  equally  honorable  and  not  less  important  to 
the  welfare  of  society.  Our  children  should  be 
trained  for  the  pursuits  to  which  they  are  adapted. 

I  cannot  forbear  giving  an  incident  which  illus- 
trates, from  my  own  experience,  the  effect  of  college 
discipline.  When  we  had  finished  arithmetic  and 
commenced  algebra,  I  resolved  never  again  to  be 
caught  napping.  My  other  tasks  were  easy  and 
consumed  but  little  time.  Determined  to  succeed  in 
algebra,  I  kept  considerably  in  advance  of  the  class 
that  I  might  have  time  to  wrestle  with  special  diffi- 
culties. This  custom  I  maintained  through  my  whole 
mathematical  course.  I  was  nearly  a  month  in  ad- 
vance of  the  recitations,  when  I  came  upon  a  very 
difficult  problem  to  which  I  resolved  to  appropriate 
the  next  Saturday  halfdioliday.  Immediately  after 
dinner  that  day  I  was  seated  at  my  table,  problem  in 
hand,  and  during  the  whole  afternoon  I  toiled  without 
making  any  perceptible  progress.  The  sun  went 
down.  That  was  the  signal  for  laying  aside  all  secu- 
lar studies  for  at  sunset  Sabbath  commenced.  Algebra, 
slate  and  pencil,  were  laid  aside,  and  the  usual  arrange- 
ments made  for  employing  the  evening  religiously. 
But  the  problem  had  taken  full  possession  of  me.  Do 
what  I  would,  read  what  I  might,  thatproplem  assert- 
ed  itself.  My  conscience  protested  and  rebelled  in 
vain.  That  problem  would  not  down.  There  it  was 
in  the  foreground  and  in  the  foreground  it  would  stay. 


LIFE  IX  COLLEGE  89 

At  the  usual  time  I  extinguished  my  light,  retired  and 
slej)t,  but  only  to  dream  of  the  problem.  Saljbath 
morning  came  and  I  prepared  to  spend  the  Sabbath 
as  usual,  religiously,  but  there  was  nothing  in  my 
mind  but  that  jDroblem.  At  the  customary  hour  I 
repaired  to  the  chapel  to  engage  in  public  worship 
and  hear  one  of  the  always  able  and  often  brilliant 
sermons  of  Prof.  Eleazar  T.  Fitch.  But  for  me,  se- 
verely as  my  conscience  was  condemning  it,  nothing 
was  interesting  but  algebra.  In  the  course  of  the 
sermon  the  solution  ^3 resented  itself  as  clear  as  sun- 
light. I  was  at  ease  and  lighthearted  for  the  rest  of 
the  day,  for  I  was  sure  that  so  clear  a  solution  could 
not  escaj)e  my  memory.  As  soon  as  the  sun  set,  Sab- 
bath was  over,  and  I  committed  my  solution  to  writ- 
ing, though  I  was  far  enough  from  being  satisfied 
with  my  Sabbath  work. 

The  severity  of  this  drill  was  in  some  degree  relaxed 
during  the  Junior  year.  The  more  severe  parts  of 
the  course  in  mathematics  were  completed  during  the 
first  two  years,  and  a  portion  of  the  time  of  the  third 
year  was  given  to  an  excellent  course  of  exp)eri mental 
lectures  on  mechanics  and  physics,  and  to  the  lec- 
tures and  other*instructious  of  the  j)rofessor  of  rhet- 
oric. During  the  Senior  year  the  class  was  entirely 
under  the  instruction  of  the  j)resident  and  the  pro- 
fessors. It  is  in  this  part  of  the  course  that  the 
greatest  improvements  have  been  made  in  these  latter 
years.  So  far  as  the  knowledge  of  chemical  science 
then  extended,  the  lectures  on  chemistry  by  Prof. 
Benj.  Silliman,  Sr.,  could  hardly  have  been  better.  I 
have  said  that  the  tutors  could  scarcely  be  said  to 
teach.     Prof.  Silliman  was  pre-eminently  a  teacher. 


90  JULIAN  M.  STUR  TEVANT 

Step  by  step  he  led  us  to  irresistible  conclusions, 
demonstrating  the  truths  of  his  utterances  by  emi- 
nently successful  experiments.  He  quickened  thought 
and  stimulated  investigation. 

Certainly  the  Yale  of  that  day  was  far  from  being 
all  it  might  have  been.  The  tutors  were  good  drilh 
masters,  but  they  often  lacked  culture  and  the  true 
literary  spirit.  They  did  not  bring  their  students  as 
they  might  have  done  into  sympathy  with  classic 
authors  as  models  of  literary  excellence.  The  jDrofes- 
sor  of  the  Latin  and  the  Greek  languages,  Prof.  James 
L.  Kingsley,  seldom  lectured,  but  often  instructed  his 
classes  in  certain  favorite  authors.  He  once  taught 
our  class,  and  at  the  end  of  the  lesson  as  he  closed 
his  book,  he  said,  "  Young  gentlemen,  you  read  Latin 
horribly  and  translate  it  worse."  In  another  instance 
he  astonished  us  while  closing  a  series  of  readings  of 
Tacitus  Agricola,  by  saying,  "  Young  gentlemen,  you 
have  been  reading  one  of  the  noblest  productions  of 
the  human  mind  without  knowiiig  it."  We  might 
justly  have  retorted  to  these  severe  and  perhaps  de- 
served rebukes,  "Whose  fault  is  it?"  In  mental, 
moral  and  social  science  our  instruction  was  far  from 
satisfactory.  Nor  am  I  sure  that  we  have  very  greatly 
improved  upon  it  since  then.  It  seems  to  me  that 
we  yet  lack  any  treatises  on  these  subjects  which  at 
all  meet  the  demands  of  the  present  time  for  philo- 
sophic inquiry.  I  confess  that  I  resign  my  own  hum- 
ble connection  with  instruction  with  a  painful  con- 
sciousness of  a  great  unsupplied  want.  No  justice  has 
yet  been  done  to  the  intuitional  nature  of  the  rational 
soul.  In  a  word,  in  sxoite  of  drawbacks,  I  am  forced 
to  say  that  from  1822  to  1 826  Yale  was  probably  do- 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  91 

ing  better  work  than  any  other  college  in  our  country. 
It  had  an  excellent  system  of  drill,  which  it  ought 
never  to  relinquish  or  relax  unless  it  resigns  that  j^art 
of  a  liberal  education  to  some  other  equally  able  and 
thorough  institution.  But  the  Yale  of  1S26  would  by 
no  means  meet  the  present  demand  for  liberal  culture 
and  acquisition. 

The  moral  and  religious  influences  to  which  I  was 
subjected  in  college  were  in  some  respects  strongly 
analogous  to  the  intellectual,  as  I  have  just  described 
them.  The  pupil,  often  young  and  inexperienced 
and  surrounded  by  conditions  of  life  so  strange  that 
he  hardly  dared  think  for  himself  or  to  speak  above  a 
whisi^er,  was  thrown  at  once  upon  his  own  moral  re- 
sources with  scarcely  any  help  from  without,  He 
would  thus  acquire  great  moral  strength  or  be  over- 
borne by  the  current  of  evil.  One  of  the  greatest 
faults  of  Yale  at  that  time  was  the  absence  of  any  so- 
cial relations  between  the  instructors  of  all  grades  and 
the  students.  Professors  and  tutors  held  themselves 
aloof  from  the  students  and  met  them  only  in  an 
official  capacity.  For  the  most  part  a  student  could 
hope  for  sympathy  and  help  in  his  moral  and  religious 
struggles  only  from  his  fellow  students.  Something 
like  half  of  the  undergraduates  were  j^rofessing  Chris- 
tians, and  a  very  large  proportion  of  these  were  firm 
and  consistent  in  that  profession.  Among  those  who 
had  little  conviction  or  feeling,  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  a  considerable  number  were  always  pure  in  their 
morals  and  free  from  sympathy  with  vice.  It  must, 
however,  be  owned  that  a  considerable  number  were 
dissipated  and  licentious,  and  that  those  whose  moral 
convictions  were  feeble  were  in  circumstances  of  great 


92  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

temptation.  There  was  a  perpetual  conflict  between 
forces  in  alliance  with  virtue  and  those  in  sympathy 
with  vice,  and  in  res^Dect  to  certain  individuals  it  long 
seemed  doubtful  whether  good  or  evil  would   prevail- 

Preaching  has  always  been  a  power  for  good  in 
Yale.  At  this  time  Eleazar  T.  Fitch  was  Professor  of 
Divinity  and  College  Preacher.  For  the  most  part 
he  had  no  personal  intercourse  with  the  students,  but 
as  a  preacher  he  had  great  influence.  The  statutes 
of  the  college  required  that  he  should  in  the  course 
of  each  successive  four  years  deliver  to  the  students 
in  the  chapel  a  full  course  of  lectures  on  theology. 
These  occupied  onehalf  of  each  Sabl^ath.  It  must 
be  admitted  that  such  lectures  had  not  much  tendency 
to  edify  a  body  of  young  men  like  those  who  made 
up  his  audiences,  but  the  discourse  for  the  other  half 
of  the  day  was  practical,  and  these  ever  served  to 
strengthen  the  religious  convictions  and  moral  j^ur- 
poses  of  the  students. 

Preaching  was  not  confined  to  these  Sabbath 
services.  Practical  discourses  of  great  value  were 
occasionally  delivered  on  other  evenings  of  the  week. 
Though  attendance  upon  these  was  voluntary,  the 
chapel  was  usually  well  filled.  There  were  three  men 
whose  discourses  on  these  occasions  left  on  my  mind 
a  strong  and  delightful  impression.  They  were  Prof. 
Nathaniel  W.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  tlie  department  of 
Didactic  Theology,  Prof.  Chancey  A.  Goodrich, 
of  the  department  of  Rhetoric,  and  Rev.  Thos. 
H.  Skinner,  D.  D.,  who,  though  he  did  not  reside 
at  New  Haven  was  a  frequent  visitor  there.  When 
I  call  to  mind  what  preaching  did  in  my  time 
for  the  students  at  Yale  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  93 

any  educator  whose  views  of  religion  furnish  nothing 
that  can  be  used  in  the  way  of  preaching  to  strengthen 
students  in  the  paths  of  righteousness  and  guard 
them  from  the  seductions  of  vice,  ought  to  suspect 
that  there  is  more  in  religion  than  he  has  yet  seen. 
A  religious  system  which  cannot  be  used  for  the 
salvation  of  young  men  amid  the  temptations  of 
college  life,  is  shallow  and  false.  It  is  a  religion  from 
which  the  Lord  has  been  taken  away.  A  few  months 
before  Dr.  Skinner's  death  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  him  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Thayer  at  Newport, 
R.  I.  and  of  telling  him  how  precious  the  memory  of 
those  sermons  had  ever  been  to  me. 

During  the  whole  of  my  life  in  college  the  Friday 
evening  i3rayer=meeting  was  kept  up  and  was  gener- 
ally well  attended.  It  was  indisj)ensable  to  the 
maintenance  of  our  religious  life.  In  it  we  recorded 
each  week  our  adhesion  to  Christ,  and  revived  our 
consciousness  of  religious  obligation  and  of  the  sacred 
fraternity  which  bound  us  together.  Here,  as  in  all 
the  previous  conditions  of  my  religious  life,  I  knew 
nothing  of  sect.  The  college  church  with  which  most 
of  us  were  connected  was  to  us  only  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  Yale  College.  It  represented  to  us  only  the 
great  brotherhood  of  Christ.  There  was  no  general 
religious  awakening  in  college  during  my  student 
life,  though  many  individuals  were  converted  and 
publicly  professed  their  faith  in  Christ.  Few  of  those 
among  my  classmates  who  were  borne  down  by  the 
current  of  vice  lived  to  reach  middle  life.  Of  those 
who  passed  that  goal,  there  were  very  few  who  did 
not  before  that  time  become  decidedly  and  openly 
Christians.     Our    class    gatherings    in    these    latter 


94  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

years,  though  well  attended,  have  been  as  devout  as 
prayer=meetings.  We  sing  together  with  almost  equal 
fervor  patriotic  songs  and  evangelic  hymns. 

During  my  college  life  there  was  a  period  in  which 
the  government  and  internal  discipline  of  the  institu- 
tion were  in  a  state  of  singular  disorder;  I  might  even 
say  of  anarchy.  Hazing  and  all  its  attendant  mean- 
nesses were  astonishingly  prevalent.  The  evil  seemed 
to  threaten  the  very  foundation  of  the  institution. 
One  Saturday  evening  in  November  we  heard  above 
the  noise  of  a  very  violent  northeast  storm  a  sharp, 
shrill  whistle,  the  ordinary  signal  for  mischief,  and 
the  next  instant  a  crash  accomjpanied  by  the  abundant 
ring  of  broken  glass.  My  roofn  was  in  South  Middle 
College,  south  entry,  front  side,  corner  room.  We 
hastened  down  stairs  and  found  all  three  windows  in 
the  middle  suite  of  rooms  below  completely  demol- 
ished, both  glass  and  sash  entirely  gone.  One  of  the 
occupants  of  the  rooms,  thus  violently  thrown  open 
to  the  storm,  was  Horace  Bushnell,  since  well  known 
to  fame.  His  birthplace  was  on  the  hills  of  Litdifield 
County,  only  a  few  miles  from  our  own,  and  he  ac- 
ceiDted  our  freely-offered  but  rather  scant  hospitality 
for  the  Sabbath .  The  rascals  escaped  in  the  darkness 
and  storm,  and  were,  as  far  as  I  know,  never  detected. 

The  fall  term  of  the  college  year,  1823-24  was 
marked  by  great  disturbances  and  many  deeds  of 
violence,  as  well  as  by  the  notorious  fact  that  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  students  were  dissipated  and 
licentious.  The  acts  of  violence  were  no  doubt  the 
work  of  a  very  few,  while  a  much  larger  number  had 
more  or  less  sympathy  with  them.  As  I  think  of  it 
at  this  distance,  it  seems  almost  incredible  that  the 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  95 

body  of  the  students  should  have  been  so  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  college 
government.  This  was  largely  owing  to  the  fact  I 
have  stated  of  there  being  no  bonds  of  j)ersonal 
affection  between  the  instructors  and  the  students. 
In  this  state  of  things  it  was  easy  for  the  dissolute 
and  the  wicked  to  maintain  a  public  opinion  which 
regarded  it  as  in  the  highest  degree  dishonorable  to 
give  information  against  any  fellow  student,  no 
matter  what  crime  he  might  commit  or  what  evil 
consequences  might  result  from  his  vices.  The  per- 
petrators of  all  this  mischief  governed  the  college 
with  a  terrorism  seldom  surpassed.  I  knew  nothing 
that  I  could  have  communicated  to  the  authorities  if 
I  had  desired  to  do  so.  The  rogues  were  not  likely 
to  admit  me  into  their  counsels.  But  I  felt  that  the 
wicked  bore  rule,  and  my  soul  had  a  longing  for  tran- 
quillity and  social  order  which  no  words  could  express. 
My  brother  preferred  to  sjDend  the  vacation  of  two 
weeks  which  occurred  about  Christmas  at  college.  I 
gladly  availed  myself  of  an  opi)ortunity,  and  spent  a 
delightful  fortnight  in  the  tranquil  homes  of  my  loving 
kindred  at  Warren.  The  days  passed  all  too  soon,  and 
I  must  return  to  the  turmoils  of  student  life.  Reach- 
ing my  room  in  the  early  evening  twilight  I  found 
there  my  brother  and  my  friend  Wright.  I  dropped 
into  a  chair  and  almost  without  saying  a  word  gave 
vent  to  my  feelings  in  an  outflow  of  tears,  more 
suitable  to  my  childhood  than  to  that  manhood  for 
which  I  had  need  to  gird  myself.  A  few  moments 
passed  in  that  unmanly  way  relieved  me,  and  I 
returned  to  my  usual  cheerfulness  and  devotion  to 
study. 


96  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Our  room  was  separated  from  the  chapel  only  by  a 
narrow,  open  space.  One  night  we  were  startled 
from  our  slumbers  by  a  frightful  explosion.  At  six 
o'clock  on  a  chill,  cloudy,  winter  morning,  the  bell 
summoned  us  to  prayers  in  the  chapel.  But  what  a 
wreck  did  we  behold !  The  exj^losion  had  been  produced 
by  a  large  package  of  gunpowder  wrapped  in  a  strong 
paper  and  tightly  wound  with  twine.  A  small  bel- 
lows=nose  had  been  inserted  for  the  touch-hole,  and 
this  connected  with  a  fuse,  which  on  being  fired 
would  leave  time  for  the  escape  of  the  villains  from 
the  building.  The  powder  was  placed  between  the 
communion  table  and  the  pul^Dit.  Every  pane  of 
glass  in  the  chapel  was  shattered.  The  white  pulpit 
was  blackened  with  smoke  to  its  very  top,  and  the 
communion  table  was  reduced  to  kindling  wood. 
The  chill  winter  air  rushed  through  the  room  without 
obstruction.  The  last  bell  was  ringing,  and  the  Pres- 
ident entered.  His  demeanor  on  that  occasion  was 
most  characteristic.  From  the  moment  he  entered 
the  chapel  till  he  left  it  no  one  could  have  discovered 
by  any  word  he  spoke,  or  any  gesture  or  move- 
ment of  a  muscle  of  his  face,  or  even  any  tremor  of 
his  voice  that  he  was  conscious  of  what  had  hap- 
pened. Services  were  performed  in  every  respect 
just  as  usual.  It  was  perfect  self=government.  To 
my  youthful  taste,  however,  it  was  self  government 
misapx^lied.  I  would  rather  have  witnessed  a  little 
thunder  and  lightning  on  the  occasion.  I  thought 
it  was  called  for. 

Immediately  after  prayers  four  persons  met  at  our 
room:  the  two  occupants  of  the  room,  our  friend 
Wright,  and  Wyllys  Warner,  afterwards  treasurer  of 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  97 

the  college.  We  were  of  one  mind.  This  could  be 
endured  no  longer  There  was  a  term  of  reproach 
and  ignominy  which  was  freely  applied  to  anyone 
suspected  of  reporting  to  the  authorities.  It  was  the 
custom  to  call  him  a  "  Blue  Skin,"  and  no  one  who 
was  not  in  Yale  College  at  the  time,  can  have  any  con- 
ception of  the  peculiar  sting  which  the  term  carried. 
We  decided  to  disarm  that  scorpion.  We  solemnly 
pledged  ourselves  to  each  other  to  communicate  to 
the  authorities  every  violation  of  the  order  of  the  col- 
lege of  which  we  could  get  any  information.  We 
called  our  league  "  The  Blue  Skin  Club."  With 
such  a  name  and  such  an  aim,  we  determined  to  in- 
crease the  membership  as  fast  as  possible.  We  com- 
municated our  plan  first  to  those  of  whose  approba- 
tion and  co-operation  we  were  sure.  Thus  we  widened 
the  circle  cautiously  but  rapidly,  till  in  a  short  time 
we  had  about  a  hundred  pledged  to  co=operation, 
without  having  communicated  our  plan  to  anyone  not 
in  sympathy  with  us. 

Then  the  secret  came  out,  and  the  whole  institu- 
tion became  a  boiling  caldron.  But  the  work  did 
not  stop,  for  in  a  few  days  a  large  majority  of  the 
students  were  members  of  the  Blue  Skin  Club.  The 
minority  resolved  on  vengeance.  One  evening  three 
ruffianly  fellows  visited  our  room  with  the  pur- 
pose of  chastising  us.  Their  plan  was  known  to  our 
friends  who  assembled  in  neighboring  rooms  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  protect  us  from  harm,  and  as  soon 
as  the  altercation  began  we  outnumbered  the  mis- 
creants three  to  one.  A  heavy  cane  raised  by  one  of 
the  enemy  was  quickly  seized  from  behind  by  a 
friendly  hand,  and  the  ruffians  were  ordered  peremp- 


98  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

torily  to  leave  the  room.  Hesitating,  they  were  fol- 
lowed to  the  stairs  by  many  feet,  and  warned  that  un- 
less they  hastened  their  steps  their  descent  was  likely 
to  be  inconveniently  accelerated.  The  outrage  was 
immediately  reported  to  the  authorities,  and  the  of- 
fenders were  summoned  before  them  and  summarily 
dismissed  from  the  college.  A  meeting  was  called  to 
express  the  sympathy  of  the  class  for  our  fellow  stu- 
dents under  censure  from  the  "  tyrannical  govern- 
ment "  of  the  college.  A  stormy  scene  followed,  but 
the  verdict  was  overwhelmingly  on  the  side  of  right. 
In  that  meeting  no  tongue  was  more  potent  than  that 
of  Elizur  Wright.  His  remarkable  i")ower  of  sarcasm 
and  ridicule  was  effectively  employed  in  behalf  of 
righteousness. 

In  a  very  few  days  the  excitement  died  out, 
and  tranquillity  reigned.  The  moral  and  Christian 
principle  of  the  students  saved  the  college.  Yet  it 
was  several  weeks  before  the  apprehension  of  further 
outrages  sufficiently  subsided  to  make  it  safe  in  our 
judgment  to  suspend  the  oi:)eration  of  our  organiza- 
tion, or  omit  the  nightly  watch  which  we  had 
maintained  during  the  struggle.  One  result  of  those 
experiences  was  that  a  band  of  men  who  have  since 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  many  a  moral  conflict, 
learned  to  trust  each  other.  Most  of  them  have  now 
passed  from  earthly  battlefields  to  the  triumphant 
host  on  the  other  side  of  the  "  dark  river." 

One  other  circumstance  ought  not  to  be  omitted. 
On  the  SabT)ath  following  the  great  outrage  at  the 
college  chapel,  Prof.  Fitch  i^reached  his  celebrated 
sermon  from  the  text:  "  Have  no  fellowship  with  the 
unfruitful   works   of   darkness,   but    rather    reprove 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  99 

them."  Napoleon's  address  to  his  troops  at  the  bat- 
tle of  the  iDyramids  was  not  more  thrilling  and  ef- 
fective than  that  sermon.  Its  impressiveness  can 
hardly  be  understood  without  some  further  explana- 
tion of  the  x^eculiar  atmosphere  which  surrounded  us. 
The  lack  of  personal  intercourse  between  instructors 
and  students  in  those  times  now  seems  almost  incred- 
ible. When  we  met  a  professor  or  a  tutor  in  the 
open  air  we  were  required  to  raise  our  hats,  but  any 
attempt  to  address  him  would  have  been  accounted 
an  extreme  rudeness  and  would  have  been  sternly  re- 
pulsed. There  was  one  tutor  who  would  sometimes 
take  a  student  as  a  companion  in  his  walks,  but  it 
was  well  understood  that  his  exceptional  course  was 
distasteful  to  his  fellow  tutors  and  not  apx^roved  by 
the  professors.  On  the  other  hand,  a  student  seen  in 
any  such  unusual  intimacy,  would  l^ecome  an  object 
of  suspicion  to  his  fellows.  Of  course  the  college 
government  could  have  no  student  allies. 

In  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  Yale  was  the 
favorite  college  of  the  southern  planters.  From  the 
days  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  almost  to  the  war  of  the  re- 
bellion, the  number  of  southern  students  was  large, 
though  it  greatly  diminished  in  the  latter  part  of  that 
period.  I  would  not  speak  harshly  of  these  gentle- 
men as  a  class.  Among  them  were  men  of  gentle- 
manly accomplishments  and  pure  morals,  but  it  must 
be  admitted  that  the  atmosphere  of  a  southern  planta- 
tion was  not  favorable  to  the  training  of  youth  in 
habits  of  self  government.  Southern  students  often 
showed,  that  the  close  relations  with  the  sons  of  small 
farmers  and  mechanics  in  which  they  found  them- 
selves, were  very  distasteful  to  them.    Another  liter- 


100  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ary  society  had  recently  been  added  to  the  two  al- 
ready existing:  the  "  Linonian,"  and  "  Brothers  in 
Unity";  which  two,  dating  back  to  Revolutionary 
times,  had  formerly  divided  the  students  nearly 
equally  between  them.  This  third  society  "  left  New 
England  out  in  the  cold,"  being  composed  mostly  of 
Southerners,  and  admitting  none  from  north  of  New 
York  City.  It  naturally  exerted  some  influence  to 
separate  southern  and  northern  students  and  to 
create  a  feud  among  them.  To  us,  it  seemed  that  the 
southern  faction  disliked  especially,  that  part  of  the 
northern  students  who  made  no  secret  of  the  fact 
that  their  resources  were  limited,  they  being  in  some 
cases  paid  for  waiting  on  their  fellows  at  the 
table,  and  for  ringing  the  college  bell  to  summon 
them  to  early  prayers.  It  was  hard  for  them  to  rec- 
ognize these  northern  men  as  equals,  and  to  see 
them  frequently  bear  otf  the  highest  college  honors 
was  almost  too  much  for  human  endurance.  Of 
course  these  haters  of  honest  toil  were  a  unit  against 
the  college  government,  and  almost  indiscriminately 
they  condemned  the  poorer  students  as  its  servile 
tools. 

In  the  series  of  events  just  recorded,  the  facts 
seemed  to  justify  their  prejudices.  The  insurrection 
against  that  terrorism  by  which  they  and  their  north- 
ern allies  were  threatening  the  very  foundations  of 
the  college,  had  originated  with  the  "  Mudsills "  of 
northern  society.  This  circumstance  greatly  inten- 
sified the  contest,  and  drove  the  defeated  party  to 
desiDeration.  Were  not  the  events  here  described 
premonitions  of  the  Great  Rebellion  ?  Even  in 
1824  no  student  in  Yale  College  could  make  an  utter- 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  101 

ance  against  the  wrongs  of  slavery  in  a  college  essay 
or  oration  without  incurring  the  risk  of  insult  and 
even  of  violence. 

The  cities  of  New  England  were  at  this  early  time 
.much  corrupted  and  domineered  over  by  the  arrogant 
spirit  of  slaveholders.  Schools  and  colleges,  manu- 
facturers and  merchants,  were  bidding  for  southern 
patronage.  Hotels  and  boarding  houses  sought  sum- 
mer boarders  from  the  sunny  South.  Parents  of 
beautiful  and  well  educated  daughters  were  glad  to 
see  them  married-  to  planters.  All  these  things  in- 
creased southern  pride, and  made  Yale  College  a  dif- 
ficult place  for  one  like  myself.  How  necessary  to 
our  country,  and  to  civilization  as  well,  was  the  ex- 
termination of  African  slavery  in  America.  It  was 
not  an  easy  thing  for  the  liunil)le  and  obscure  trio  who 
had  left  Tallmadge  in  circumstances  so  unpromising 
about  a  year  and  a  half  before,  to  occupy  such  a  j)o- 
sition  as  we  did  in  that  conflict.  We  did  not  thrust 
ourselves  into  it.  We  were  placed  there  by  our 
principles  and  the  providence  of  God.  He  placed  us 
in  it  and  sustained  us  in  it,  and  to  Him  be  the  praise. 

The  rivalry  for  college  honors,  which  was  very  in- 
tense in  those  days,  had  great  influence  on  my  col- 
lege life  and  on  the  formation  of  my  character.  I 
have  often  doubted  whether  it  was  on  the  whole  for 
good,  but  my  conviction  now  is  that  it  was  decidedly 
beneficial.  It  was,  however,  like  almost  everything 
else  which  I  encountered  in  college,  a  severe  proba- 
tion to  me.  It  called  my  powers  into  more  perfect 
exercise,  and  strengthened  my  moral  principles  by 
temptation  overcome.  I  think,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
that  I  did  keep  my  excited  ambition  in  subjection  to 


102  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

my  j)rinciples.  The  desire  for  college  distinction 
took  stronger  hold  upon  me  because,  previous  to  en- 
tering college,  my  inferiority  in  all  contests  with 
those  of  my  own  age  had  greatly  discouraged  and  de- 
pressed me.  Here,  in  the  pursuit  of  those  highly 
dignified  and  honorable  ends  which  had  called  us  to- 
gether, I  could  maintain  a  fair  equality  with  the  fore- 
most comx^etitors.  I  had  entered  a  new  world  in 
which  I  need  not  be  a  weakling,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  a  fresh  element  of  hopefulness  came 
into  my  life,  and  that  I  devoted  myself  to  my  studies 
with  an  ardor  which  was  in  some  degree  exceptional. 
I  felt  that  success  would  promote  my  future  useful- 
ness. Heretofore,  I  had  been  outdone  by  everyone 
and  I  resolved  that  hereafter  I  would  not,  if  I  could 
help  it,  be  outdone  by  anyone.  The  first  assignment 
of  college  honors  w^as  then  made  at  the  close  of  the 
first  term  of  the  Junior  year.  It  only  designated  fif- 
teen of  the  class,  five  from  each  division,  as  forming 
the  highest  grade  of  honor,  and  I  was  satisfied  and 
greatly  encouraged  to  find  my  name  among  the  fif- 
teen, out  of  our  class  of  more  than  one  hundred.  In 
accordance  with  the  universal  custom  of  the  time,  my 
brother  and  myself  celebrated  the  event  by  placing 
brandy  and  wine  before  the  numerous  friends  who 
called  to  ofPer  their  congratulations.  Not  to  have  done 
so  would  have  been  universally  regarded  as  at  least  un- 
social; so  greatly  have  times  changed.  We  naturally 
thought  our  conduct  innocent,  for  in  those  days  the 
college  servant  regularly  carried  to  the  retiring=room, 
adjacent  to  the  examinationdiall,  a  store  of  choice 
liquors,  for  the  use  of  the  instructors  and  the  minis- 
ters wdio  conducted  the  examinations. 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  103 

I  was  not  destined  to  pass  through  college  in  un- 
interrupted peace.  In  February  and  March,  1826, 
my  classmate  and  dear  friend,  Reuben  Hitchcock, 
also  from  the  Western  Reserve,  became  very  ill  with 
pneumonia.  My  brother  was  absent,  having  taken  a 
school  at  Goshen,  Connecticut,  and  a  considerable 
share  of  the  responsibility  for  the  care  of  the  invalid 
fell  upon  me.  An  eiDidemic  pneumonia  was  prevail- 
ing in  the  city  and  in  college.  One  evening  I  took  my 
X)lace  by  his  bedside  with  gloomy  forebodings.  One 
student  had  already  died  of  the  disease,  and  I  feared 
that  my  friend  would  be  the  next  victim.  I  was 
quite  inexperienced  in  nursing,  and  felt  almost  totally 
unfit  for  the  charge  I  was  to  assume  for  the  next 
twenty^four  hours.  It  was  a  terrible  night.  My 
classmate  was  delirious,  and  constantly  sought  to  es- 
cape from  the  bed.  The  morning  brought  little  re- 
lief to  him  or  to  me,  but  I  remained  at  my  post  till 
evening,  when  I  returned  to  my  solitary  room  in  a 
violent  chill.  This  was  followed  by  a  high  fever, 
and  that  by  a  drenching  perspiration.  In  the  morn- 
ing I  was  found  very  ill  with  pneumonia,  and  was  re- 
moved to  the  home  of  three  maiden  sisters,  Miller  by 
name,  and  attended  by  Dr.  Eli  Ives,  the  father  of  the 
family  of  physicians  of  that  name.  Better  nursing 
and  medical  care  were  impossible.  Several  days 
passed,  of  which  I  have  no  recollection  except  that  of 
distressing  dreams.  My  life-long  friend,  Theron 
Baldwin,  in  spite  of  roads  blocked  with  snow,  brought 
my  brother  to  my  bedside.  But  they  were  obliged 
to  travel  on  horseback,  and  did  not  arrive  until  the 
crisis  had  passed. 

Upon  the  seventh  day  of  the  disease  Dr.  Ives,  on 


104  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

leaving  for  the  night,  told  my  friend  Wright,  who  re- 
mained by  me  with  all  the  fidelity  of  a  brother,  not 
to  send  for  him  if  I  was  worse  before  morning,  as  he 
could  be  of  no  use.  During  the  night  a  crisis  came, 
with  a  favorable  turn.  Such,  however,  had  been  the 
violence  of  the  attack  that  for  several  days  there  was 
but  faint  hope  of  my  recovery.  Convalescence  once 
established,  my  restoration  was  more  rapid  than  could 
have  been  reasonably  exx^ected.  That  illness  enlisted 
a  degree  of  sympathy  from  both  instructors  and 
classmates  that  deeply  affected  me.  Among  my 
classmates  the  bitter  hostility  which  had  contin- 
ued in  some  minds  as  a  result  of  the  conflicts  of  1824 
was  laid  to  rest;  and  some, who  had  been  particularly 
unfriendly, expressed  the  warmest  sympathy  and  an 
earnest  desire  for  my  recovery.  By  a  spontaneous 
movement  my  classmates  presented  me  a  consider- 
able sum  of  money  to  lighten  the  pecuniary  burdens 
of  my  illness.  Prof.  Denison  Olmstead,  who  had 
recently  succeeded  to  the  chair  of  mathematics  and 
natural  i:)liilosoi)hy,  made  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Prof.  Dutton,  exhibited  a  deep  interest  in  me,  and  a 
life-long  friendship  was  established  between  us.  I 
ought  also  to  mention  that  my  friend  Hitchcock 
speedily  recovered. 

Before  I  was  able  to  return  to  my  studies  the  spring 
term  ended.  The  beginning  of  my  illness  virtually 
closed  my  student  life  in  college.  When  the  final  as- 
signment of  college  honors  was  made,  I  was  permit- 
ted to  retain  my  position  among  the  first  fifteen. 
Whether  I  should  have  obtained  one  of  the  three 
highest  honors  had  my  sickness  not  interfered,  of 
course  I  cannot  tell;  but  I  was  assured  that  I  stood 


LIFE  IN  COLLEGE  105 

verj^  close  to  those  who  did  obtain  them,  and  I  was  sat- 
isfied and  thankful. 

My  illness  conspired  with  several  other  circum- 
stances to  bring  ujDon  my  brother  and  myself  that 
s^jring  a  financial  embarrassment  such  as  we  had 
never  before  experienced,  and  to  create  the  necessity 
for  immediate  efforts  for  relief.  Our  credit  was  not 
impaired,  but  during  nearly  four  years  we  had  been 
to  some  extent  mortgaging  the  future  to  supply  the 
needs  of  the  present.  We  must  begin  to  meet  these 
obligations.  After  the  May  vacation  of  four  weeks, 
the  summer  term  continued  only  about  six  weeks  be- 
fore the  final  examination,  and  the  remaining  six 
weeks  of  the  term  were  given,  very  unwisely,  as  I  think, 
to  the  Seniors  as  a  time  in  which  to  prepare  for 
commencement.  We  had  both  hoped  to  secure 
schools  before  the  first  of  May,  and  to  be  absent  from 
college  six  weeks  of  the  term,  returning  only  for  the 
examination,  as  was  frequently  done.  In  this  we 
were  disajDpointed,  but  Providence  provided  for  us 
better  than  our  hopes. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IMPROVED  FINANCES. 

My  illness  had  prevented  me  from  seeking  a  situa- 
tion at  the  most  favorable  time.  Even  when  May 
came,  I  was  too  weak  to  accept  an  ofiPer,  had  one 
presented  itself.  When  the  term  opened  we  were 
both  without  situations.  We  had  given  up  our 
room  in  college,  and  had  taken  temporary  lodgings 
outside.  On  the  first  day  of  the  term  we  sat  in  our 
room  depressed  and  very  anxious.  Little  did  I  real- 
ize how  sunny  a  place  Providence  was  preparing  for 
me,  or  how  essential  that  place  was  to  my  future  hap- 
piness and  usefulness.  Well  was  it  for  me  that  I  was 
unemployed.  As  we  sat  looking  each  other  in  the 
face,  too  much  discouraged  to  form  plans,  and  quite 
destitute  of  material  out  of  which  to  form  them,  a 
fellow^ student  entered  the  room  with  an  open  letter 
in  his  hand.  It  was  from  the  principal  of  the  acad- 
emy at  New  Canaan,  Conn.,  stating  that  he  found  his 
health  quite  inadequate  to  the  work  of  the  school, 
which  he  had  taken  on  the  first  of  May.  He  com- 
mitted to  our  friend,  under  the  authority  of  his  em- 
ployers, the  responsibility  of  securing  a  successor,  and 
mentioned  five  persons  to  whom  the  place  might  be 
offered,  my  name  being  the  last  of  the  five.  Three 
had  already  declined;  the  fourth  was  not  in  town,  and 
therefore  the  offer  came  to  me.  The  place  was  an  ex- 
cellent one,  both  as  to  respectability  and  compensa- 

106 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  107 

tion.  My  immediate  predecessors  in  it  were  Milton 
Badger,  long  the  honored  secretary  of  the  A.  H.  M.  S., 
and  Theophilus  Smith,  afterwards  pastor  at  New 
Canaan. 

It  may  be  guessed  that  I  did  not  hesitate.  At  two 
o'clock  that  afternoon,  with  a  light  heart  I  took  the 
stage=coach  for  my  destination.  From  New  Haven 
to  Norwalk  is  thirty^one  miles,  in  those  days  a  jour- 
ney of  five  hours.  The  stage  fare  was  $2.50.  That 
same  journey  is  now  made  in  less  than  an  hour  at  a 
cost  of  seventy-five  cents.  I  spent  the  night  at  an 
exceedingly  comfortable  hotel,  and  in  the  morning 
walked  to  New  Canaan,  five  miles  back  from  Norwalk. 
The  heartsease  and  youthful  joyousness  of  that  morn- 
ing walk  in  June  in  the  cool,  tranquil  air,  under  smil- 
ing skies,  over  swelling  hills,  through  green  valleys 
and  fragrant  forest  resounding  with  the  songs  of  birds, 
beside  crystal  brooks  murmuring  in  their  pebbly 
channels,  are  delightful  even  in  the  dim  pictures  of  a 
far^ofP  memory.  It  was  not  so  much  hope  for  the 
future  as  enjoyment  of  the  present  that  brought  hap- 
piness. It  was  the  response  of  a  young  and  sensitive 
spirit  to  the  sweet  influence  of  nature  and  nature's 
God;  a  most  fitting  introduction  to  what  was  before 
me. 

I  found  my  school  a  serious  affair.  It  was  unusual- 
ly and  unexpectedly  large  that  summer.  The  pupils 
were  of  various  ages,  from  seven  years  up  to  maturity. 
That  was  before  the  days  of  graded  schools.  Most  of 
the  pupils  were  boarding  scholars  from  the  neighbor- 
ing city  of  New  York.  I  was  the  only  teacher.  It 
was  yet  two  months  before  I  should  be  twenty-one, 
and  I  was  without  experience  as  a  teacher.     Though 


108  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

five  feet  ten  inches  in  height.  I  was  very  slender  and 
pale,  partly  from  my  recent  illness,  and  as  beardless 
as  a  maiden.  I  did  not  appear  to  be  more  than  eight- 
een years  old.  My  employers  must  have  wondered 
tliat  my  name  was  even  the  last  on  the  list  of  candi- 
dates recommended  for  a  position  so  important. 
However  they  made  no  objections.  The  incumbent 
kindly  consented  to  remain  two  or  three  days,  and 
then  I  assumed  entire  charge.  I  was  soon  convinced 
that  it  was  impossible  for  a  single  teacher  to  instruct 
and  goverii  such  a  school,  and  said  so  frankly  to  my 
employers.  To  my  great  joy  they  at  once  authorized 
me  to  procure  an  assistant.  I  sent  immediately  for 
my  brother,  and  in  a  few  days  had  the  pleasure  of 
welcoming  him  to  New  Canaan.  He  was  two  years 
older  than  I,  and  in  a^Dpearance  much  more  than  that, 
and  though  two  inches  shorter,  he  was  stronger  and 
more  robust.  He  had  had  some  exj^erience  in  teach- 
ing, and  was  easy  and  self=possessed,  while  I  was 
timid  and  bashful. 

It  was  therefore  very  natural  that  he  should  soon 
seem  the  j)rincipal  rather  than  the  assistant.  This 
gave  me  increased  confidence,  since  my  ambition  was 
only  by  our  joint  efforts  to  control  the  school  and  pro- 
mote the  best  interests  of  all.  We  were  soon  assured 
of  success.  The  school  became  so  large  that  the  pro- 
prietors were  fully  convinced  that  the  employment  of 
an  assistant  was  a  necessity,  and  that  I  had  procured 
an  excellent  one. 

Memory  delights  to  linger  among  those  halcyon 
days.  My  labors,  though  arduous,  did  not  exhaust 
me.  Our  debts  seemed  no  longer  formidable.  My 
brother  drew  me  into  society,  and  I  was  better  pre- 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  109 

pared  to  enjoy  it  than  ever  before.  I  rejoiced  in  the 
present  like  a  singing  bird,  and  was  full  of  trust  and 
hope  for  the  future. 

When  the  time  arrived  for  the  Senior  examinations, 
we  were  permitted  to  suspend  the  school  for  two  or 
three  days.  Taking  a  chaise,  we  drove  through  the 
beautiful  villages  that  lie  along  the  Sound;  passed 
our  examinations;  heard  our  Latinized  names  read  as 
recommended  for  the  degree  of  A.  B.;  and  partici- 
pated in  the  festivities  of  Class  day,  which  then 
occurred  six  weeks  before  the  Commencement. 
These  festivities  consisted  of  an  elegant  dinner  in 
the  Commons  Hall,  with  the  Corporation  and  faculty 
of  instruction  and  government,  and  an  oration  and 
looem  delivered  by  members  selected  by  the  class. 
Leaving  New  Haven  about  sunset,  we  drove  back 
over  the  same  lovely  road  in  the  bewitching  light  of 
a  full  moon,  and  reached  our  lodgings  in  the  small 
hours  of  the  morning.  How  buoyant  we  were  in 
spirit  they  only  can  know  who  remember  the  joyous- 
ness  of  youth.  Such  was  the  summer  that  followed 
that  dark  and  frowning  spring. 

New  Canaan  was  then  a  country  town,  almost 
without  a  village.  Yet  it  carried  on  a  considerable 
l)usiness  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes.  It  was  as 
purely  a  Congregational  community  as  any  in  which 
I  had  lived,  the  Episcopal  church  which  had  existed 
there  being  for  the  time  in  a  state  of  suspended 
animation.  Most  of  the  people  attended  the  Congre- 
gational church,  which  on  Sabbath  morning  was 
filled  almost  to  overflowing.  The  membership  did 
not,  however,  correspond  at  all  with  the  size  of  the 
congregation.     The   church  had  very  few  communis 


110  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

cants  under  forty  years  of  age,  and  yet  the  number  of 
young  people  in  the  congregation  was  unusually 
large.  This  spectacle  greatly  moved  my  heart.  I 
deeply  felt  that  those  multitudes  of  youth  and  young 
married  peox^le  ought  to  be  brought  to  Christ. 

My  brother  and  I  soon  found  other  praying  per- 
sons who  sympathized  with  us  in  that  feeling.  We 
privately  instituted  a  series  of  weekly  meetings  at 
private  houses,  to  pray  for  "the  consolation  of  Israel," 
and  to  be  continued  until  the  blessing  should  appear. 
At  that  time  the  only  week=day  service  held  by 
public  appointment  in  the  town  was  the  conference 
that  met  at  private  houses  in  the  different  neighbor- 
hoods. We  were  also  present  there  as  often  as  pos- 
sible, but  seldom  found  more  than  eight  or  ten  of 
the  older  members  of  the  church  in  attendance.  In- 
stead of  being  a  prayer  meeting,  the  time  was  de- 
voted to  the  discussion  of  the  most  abstruse  doctrines 
of  Calvinism.  This  bill  of  fare  was  neither  satisfy- 
ing nor  spiritually  nutritious.  The  Rev.  William 
Bonney  was  the  j)astor;  a  devout,  good  man,  but  at 
that  time  quite  destitute  of  fresh  thought,  and  with 
scarce  any  power  to  awaken  the  thoughts  and  move 
the  hearts  of  the  peox)le.  Those  who  attended  church 
did  so  chiefly  from  a  sense  of  duty  or  as  a  matter  of 
form.  I  keenly  felt  that  such  an  order  of  things,  if 
continued,  must  bring  that  church  into  desolation, 
and  leave  the  people  without  God  in  the  world. 
What  could  we  do  but  pray  for  our  Father's  help 
in  such  a  time  of  need.  Experience  abundantly 
demonstrates  that  the  power  of  the  Gospel  over  a 
community  cannot  be  maintained  without  a  living 
ministry;    a    ministry,    capable    of    interpreting   the 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  111 

gospel  in  the  language  of  the  present,  and  applying 
it  to  the  wants,  the  dangers  and  the  delusions  of  the 
jjassing  generation.  A  minister  that  repeats  the 
words  of  a  doctrine,  in  the  unvitalized  forms  of  the 
past  is  as  powerless  as  the  senseless  parrot.  Our 
little  praying  circle  was  regularly  attended,  and  in  it 
we  often  experienced  a  season  of  great  religious  fer- 
vor; but  for  a  long  time  there  was  no  cloud  visible 
even  from  the  top  of  Carmel. 

Our  Yale  Commencement  was  held  on  the  second 
Wednesday  of  Sej)tember,  and  we  of  course  sus- 
pended school  for  a  few  days  to  attend  it.  The  most 
important  event  to  me  during  those  days  was  a  ser- 
mon by  the  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  on  "  The  Educa- 
tion of  Young  Men  for  the  Christian  Ministry."  He 
was  the  most  brilliant  among  the  rising  pulpit 
orators  of  the  time.  I  had  never  before  heard  such 
an  overwhelming  torrent  of  eloquence.  His  words 
had  nothing  in  common  with  the  superficial  sensa- 
tionalism that  so  often  curses  the  modern  pulpit. 
Profound  sincerity  was  his  most  characteristic  qual- 
ity. He  affected  my  mind,  by  the  truthfulness  and 
grandeur  of  his  conceptions,  the  fitness  of  his  diction, 
and  the  magnificence  of  his  imagery.  He  had  a  most 
jorofound  grasp  of  his  subject,  and  the  keenest  per- 
cejition  of  all  the  analogies  by  which  it  could  be 
illustrated.  My  admiration  of  his  genius  was  great; 
but  the  most  powerful  effect  of  the  sermon  upon  my 
mind  was  the  confirmation  of  my  faith  in  the  Gospel 
as  a  means  of  renovating  human  character  and  win- 
ning back  human  society  to  its  proper  allegiance  to 
God.  It  made  me  exult  that  I  was  a  Christian,  and 
increased  my  ardor   to   fill  some  position,  however 


112  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

lowly,  in  the  Christian  ministry.  It  did  not  excite 
my  ambition.  The  standard  of  puli)it  oratory  which 
it  set  before  me  was  so  high  that  it  no  more  sug- 
gested the  thought  of  my  becoming  a  great  pulpit 
orator,  than  the  reading  of  Milton's  finest  passages 
inspired  me  with  an  ambition  to  become  his  equal  as 
a  x^oet.  Like  Niagara  or  an  Alpine  landscape,  it 
affected  me  with  a  simple  wonder,  and  filled  my  soul 
with  admiration  and  delight.  Samuel  H.  Cox  was 
not  always  eloquent,  but  he  spoke  at  times  with 
almost  supernatural  inspiration.  He  afterward  be- 
came Dr.  Cox,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  at  first 
he  rejected  the  title  almost  scornfully,  calling  the  two 
D's  "semidunar  fardels,"  but  after  reflection  he 
apologized  for  his  reply  as  savoring  more  of  pride 
than  of  Christian  humility,  and  accepted  the  honor. 
Whether  his  first  or  second  thought  was  the  wiser 
I  am  not  sure. 

A  Yale  Commencement  in  1826  differed  very 
greatly  from  a  similar  occasion  in  the  present.  It 
was  to  the  students  and  the  outside  public  much 
more  exciting  and  imj)ressive.  Then,  as  now,  it  was 
held  in  the  Center  church.  There  were  both  morn- 
ing and  afternoon  sessions,  with  the  Commencement 
dinner  between.  At  each  session  the  house  was 
crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  many  half=fledged 
orators  were  heard,  or  rather  they  spoke,  for  few  of 
them  could  be  heard.  My  own  subject  was  trite,  and 
my  little  effort  had  no  other  merit  than  that  of  a  di- 
rectness and  force  that  came  from  earnest  thinking. 
In  the  few  moments  allotted  for  conversation  before 
dinner  I  was  greatly  astonished  to  receive  a  few  words 
of  kindness  and    commendation   from   the   admired 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  113 

preacher  of  the  evening  before.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  long=continued  and  agreeable  acquaintance 
with  Dr.  Cox. 

Commencement  is  passed,  and  the  pilgrims  to  Yale 
in  1822  are  alumni  of  Yale  in  1826.  How  changed 
was  I !  Yale  had  fulfilled  all  the  promises  she  made 
even  to  my  imagination.  The  trio  of  the  pilgrimage 
is  now  to  be  dissolved.  My  friend  Wright,  who  had 
engaged  in  teaching  at  Groton,  Mass.,  and  there  en- 
tered with  all  his  enthusiasm  into  the  Unitarian  con- 
troversy as  a  co=worker  with  the  Rev.  John  Todd, 
afterwards  the  honored  pastor  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.; 
and  my  brother,  who  left  our  school  in  October  in 
order  to  permit  the  proprietors  to  employ  a  cheaper 
assistant  when  the  school  was  usually  smaller,  both 
left  my  side.  Until  then  I  had  lived  in  the  society 
of  two  comi)anions  older  and  stronger  than  myself. 
Now  I  was  left  alone,  to  meet  the  storms  of  life,  if 
storms  came,  single  handed.  My  brother  and  I 
had  been  almost  inseparable  from  infancy,  and  had 
possessed  almost  a  common  personality.  We  were 
generally  thought  of  and  mentioned  together.  My 
responsibility  in  the  school  would  henceforth  be 
greater,  and  my  work  more  difficult,  but  the  studies 
were  familiar,  and  I  had  so  gained  experience  and 
confidence  that  I  was  no  longer  anxious  about  the 
discii^line.  It  was  a  great  blessing  that  such  a  season 
of  tranquil  happiness  was  granted  me  before  the 
struggles  which  were  to  come. 

Early  in  the  autumn  the  Sabbath  evening  prayer 
and  conference^meetings  were  resumed  for  the  sea- 
son. They  were  generally  held  at  private  houses  in 
different  parts  of  town.     I  always  attended  these  meet- 


114  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ings,  and  took  more  or  less  part  in  conducting  them. 
Before  long  an  unusual  interest  in  religious  things 
was  manifested,  which  soon  became  quite  general, 
and  many  were  seeking  the  Lord.  One  or  two  addi- 
tional meetings  were  appointed  each  week,  and 
all  were  crowded.  This  state  of  things  continued 
throughout  the  winter  and  even  until  late  in  the 
spring,  when  a  large  part  of  the  young  iDCople  had 
committed  themselves  to  a  Christian  life.  Within  a 
year  from  the  first  manifestation  of  increased  spirit- 
ual interest,  more  than  one  hundred  were  added  to  the 
church,  and  both  the  religious  and  moral  aspects  of 
the  place  were  greatly  changed.  To  have  enjoyed 
and  participated  in  that  great  movement  of  God's 
Spirit  I  count  one  of  the  great  felicities  of  my  young 
life.  Those  delightful  religious  experiences  recalled 
the  great  revival  in  Tallmadge,  and  bound  me  for 
life  to  New  Canaan  with  ties  of  religious  affection  no 
less  precious  and  enduring  than  those  by  which  I 
was  already  bound  to  Tallmadge  and  my  dear,  native 
Warren.  Each  of  these  places  has  been  home  to  me 
all  my  life. 

I  revisited  all  three  of  them  in  1883,  and  in  each  re- 
ceived a  welcome  which  made  my  heart  glad.  The 
dear  fathers  and  mothers  were  indeed  gone;  but  their 
children  and  grandchildren  received  me  in  the  name 
and  in  the  spirit  of  those  who  had  jDassed  beyond  the 
river.  If  you  wish  to  form  enduring  friendships,  you 
must  bind  them  by  religious  and  spiritual  ties. 

Certain  marked  characteristics  distinguished  this 
revival  and  the  one  in  Tallmadge,  Ohio,  previously 
mentioned,  from  all  others  which  I  have  y^itnessed. 
These  differences  are,  I  think,  chiefly  traceable  to  a 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  115 

single  cause;  the  absence  of  church  rivalry.  In  com- 
munities situated  as  those  were,  Christian  people  can 
afford  to  sow  good  seed  and  wait  patiently  for  the 
harvest.  Through  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  the  ingather- 
ing will  surely  come,  and  will  continue  so  long  that 
no  part  of  the  precious  harvest  need  be  lost.  It  M-ill 
not  be  necessary  to  multiply  meetings  beyond  the 
obvious  needs  of  the  hour,  or  to  push  the  instrumen- 
talities of  religious  excitement  to  the  point  of  either 
physical  or  mental  exhaustion.  Under  the  baneful 
influence  of  church  rivalries  revivals  lose  much  of 
their  natural  and  spontaneous  character,  and  such 
scenes  as  I  have  described  become  impossible.  A 
religious  movement  in  which  the  several  churches  of 
a  large  village  are  each  seeking  to  rival  the  others,  is 
vividly  pictured  in  Bayard  Taylor's  "  Hannah  Thurs- 
ton." Unfortunately  the  author  of  that  story  fails 
entirely  to  recognize  the  honorable  motive  lying  at 
the  bottom  of  such  meetings,  and  sees  only  the  rival- 
ry which  mars  and  imi^airs  their  spiritual  power. 
Nevertheless,  any  Christian  man  may  read  that  pas- 
sage with  f)rofit.  "  Fas  est  etiam  ah  hoste  doceri.'''' 
We  treat  the  ingathering  of  souls,  much  as  we  do  the 
harvest  of  wild  blackberries,  when  we  hastily  pluck 
them  before  they  are  ripe,  lest  in  the  multitude  of 
pickers  we  lose  them  altogether.  I  have  often  wit- 
nessed the  spectacle  of  several  village  churches,  all 
holding  daily  meetings  for  weeks  in  succession,  with 
audiences  so  small  that  their  combined  numbers 
would  not  have  filled  the  largest  church  building  in 
the  town,  until  each  attendant  wore  an  expression  of 
weariness  and  discouragement  painful  to  Ijehold. 
The  effort  exhausted  the  Christian  force  of  the  place 


116  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

instead  of  augmenting  it.  What  we  regard  as  our 
denominational  necessities  are  largely  to  blame  for 
such  a  siDectacle.  We  try  to  take  the  whole  matter 
of  revivals  into  our  own  hands,  and  expect  to  create 
them  to  our  order.  It  is  but  a  few  days  since  I  saw 
the  announcement  in  a  daily  paper  that  on  such  a 
day  a  certain  church  would  "  commence  a  series  of 
revival  meetings."  In  the  same  spirit  as  that  which 
I  have  narrated  in  another  chapter,  an  eminent  pre- 
siding elder  said  of  one  of  his  brethren,  "He  has 
kicked  up  quite  a  revival !  "  By  such  means  revivals 
lose  their  sacred  character  as  the  work  of  the  Divine 
Spirit. 

The  religious  work  of  that  winter,  together  with 
severe  labors  in  school,  impaired  my  health.  Even 
school  duties  alone  became  too  heavy  a  burden.  In 
the  later  fall  months  I  often  reached  home  at  night 
with  a  feeling  of  utter  prostration.  I  sought  to  rem- 
edy the  evil  by  exercise.  This  might  have  afforded 
some  relief  if  I  had  used  it  in  moderation.  I  often 
walked  three  or  four  miles  before  breakfast,  return- 
ing quite  exhausted.  I  had  so  much  faith  in  exer- 
cise as  a  restorative  from  the  effects  of  confinement 
and  mental  strain,  that  I  persisted  in  it  in  spite  of  ex- 
cessive fatigue  and  daily  declining  strength.  Had  I 
not  at  last  become  convinced  that  this  method  of 
treatment  was  ill  adapted  to  my  case  it  is  probable 
that  I  should  have  entirely  broken  my  constitution. 
I  ceased  my  long  walks,  and  treated  myself  more  ten- 
derly, and  was  thus  enabled  to  perform  my  school 
work  without  interruption  until  I  was  quite  restored, 
as  I  thought,  by  the  spring  vacation.  But  under  the 
severe  labors  of  the  summer  term  I  again  became  so 


IMPROVED  FISASCES  117 

enfeebled  that  I  was  compelled  to  employ  a  substi- 
tute for  two  or  three  weeks,  which  I  sj^ent  in  a  quiet 
farmdiouse  at  Rockaway,  L.  I.  In  that  delii^htful 
spot,  sea  air,  sea  food  and  surf  loathing  quickly  re- 
stored my  appetite  and  brought  back  my  former 
vigor.  Since  that  experience  I  have  never  favored 
college  exercises,  religious  meetings  or  athletic  sports 
before  breakfast.  I  am  sure  that  severe  labor,  eitlier 
mental  or  physical,  before  taking  food  in  the  morn- 
ing has  always  been  injurious  to  me. 

Such  a  mixed  school  as  was  mine  at  New  Canaan, 
though  it  enjoyed  a  very  high  rejaulation  as  a  place 
in  which  to  prepare  for  college,  ought  never  to  exist. 
Some  of  my  pupils  were  ec[ual  in  ability  to  any  I 
have  ever  taught.  Their  standing  on  entering  col- 
lege and  their  subsequent  career  proved  this  beyond 
a  question.  But  it  was  impossi])le  to  do  them  all 
justice.  For  example,  in  teaching  Cicero,  I  was  able 
to  hear  them  read  only  a  few  of  the  most  difficult 
passages  in  the  long  lessons  which  they  had  prepared. 
I  had  no  time  to  inspire  them  with  enthusiasm  or  to 
cultivate  in  them  an  appreciation  of  Cicero  as  an 
orator  and  a  man  of  genius.  Most  of  the  day  was 
spent  in  dealing  with  classes  of  every  variety  of  age, 
capacity  and  industry,  in  arithmetic,  algebra,  geogra- 
phy and  English  grammar,  to  which  must  also  be 
added  history,  rhetoric  and  logic. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  faults  of  that  school  could 
be  altogether  remedied  by  our  modern  system  of  grad- 
ing. The  tnjuble  was  to  a  considerable  extent  due  to 
errors  in  which  we  have  even  exceeded  our  fathers. 
"VYe  have  gone  beyond  them  in  urging  a  great  variety 
of  studies  upon  minds   too  immature    to  do   them 


118  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

justice.  In  spite  of  the  enormous  expense  of  our 
systems  of  education,  it  is  a  question  whether  we  have 
studied  the  wants  of  our  children  as  zealously  as  we 
have  tried  to  carry  out  our  own  theories. 

In  New  Canaan  I  first  met  and  loved  the  woman 
who  soon  became  my  wife.  This  was  by  far  the  most 
imxDortant  event  of  my  life  there.  Before  telling 
frankly,  as  I  mean  to  do,  the  story  of  our  acquaint- 
ance, I  wish,  at  the  risk  of  evoking  a  smile,  to  acknowl- 
edge my  obligation  to  a  certain  old-fashioned  book. 
That  volume  is  Hannah  More's  "Coelebs  in  Search  of 
a  Wife."  I  read  it  before  I  was  seventeen  years  old 
and  was  greatly  charmed  not  only  by  its  simple  and 
sprightly  style,  and  its  pictures  of  character  and 
society  and  of  tranquil  English  country  life,  but 
especially  by  the  exalted  conception  of  womanhood 
which  i)revades  and  adorns  it.  It  inspired  me  with 
reverence  for  the  true  woman  and  for  marriage.  The 
cultivated  classes  in  English  society,  in  honoring 
Hannah  More  as  they  did,  greatly  honored  them- 
selves. I  cannot  help  thinking  that  a  comparison  of 
Hannah  More  with  George  Eliot  is  more  creditable  to 
the  last  century  than  to  the  present. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  what  is  called  love  at  first 
sight  is  not  always  an  exj)ression  of  our  higher  na- 
tures. Yet  I  confidently  believe  that  the  impression 
made  on  me  at  our  very  first  acquaintance  by  Eliza- 
beth Maria  Fayerweather  was  largely  the  result  of 
Hannah  More's  influence.  The  merry  girl  of  twenty 
unconsciously  revealed  in  many  ways  a  womanly 
character  which  M'as  fitted  to  impress  one  whose  mind 
and  heart  were  already  filled  with  a  high  idea  of 
womanhood.      From  the  first  I  keenly  enjoyed  her 


IMPROVED  FINANCES  119 

society;  but  instead  of  seeking];  to  excite  in  her  a  cor- 
responding feeling,  I  put  myself  under  great  restraint 
lest  I  should  disclose  to  her  my  feelings.  I  did  not 
yet  sufficiently  know  her  character,  especially  her 
moral  and  religious  principles.  It  was  my  solemn 
and  deliberate  purpose  not  to  unite  my  life  with 
that  of  any  woman  who  was  not  in  perfect  sympathy 
with  me  on  religious  subjects,  however  agreeable  to 
me  she  might  be  in  other  respects.  In  fact  I  was 
sure  that  no  one  whose  sentiments  were  not  in  har- 
mony with  my  own  could  long  be  a  very  agreeable 
companion.  I  was  resolved  that  unless  I  was  fully 
satisfied  upon  those  points  I  would,  at  whatever  cost, 
part  from  her  hand=free,  the  tender  feelings  she  had 
inspired  being  known  only  to  myself. 

I  saw  her  occupying  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  so- 
ciety, which  from  the  necessity  of  my  j)osition  I  much 
frequented,  and  surrounded  by  young  men  who  seemed 
to  me  more  likely  than  myself  to  win  her  regard.  My 
life  plans  demanded  that  I  should  be  married.  It 
was  only  when,  after  nearly  a  year,  I  had  become  fully 
assured  of  her  Christian  character  and  her  interest  in 
the  cause  to  which  I  had  given  my  life,  that  I  made 
known  to  her  the  secret  of  my  heart.  Then  I  found 
that  my  reserve  had  created  the  impression  that  I  did 
not  think  much  of  her,  and  she  was  as  much  surprised 
at  my  declaration  as  if  I  had  revealed  my  feelings  at 
our  first  interview. 

I  regard  my  acquaintance  with  that  noble  woman 
as  among  the  most  kindly  provisions  of  God's  provi- 
dence in  my  behalf.  It  seemed  as  if  heaven  had  or- 
dained that  we  should  meet.  She  was  a  little  less 
than  a  year  younger  than  myself,  but  much  riper  in 


120  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

character,  and  had  received  an  excellent  education 
under  my  able  predecessors  in  the  school  at  New 
Canaan.  Her  mother  was  a  sister  of  Rev.  James 
Richards,  D.  D.,  then  at  the  head  of  Auburn  Theolog- 
ical Seminary.  At  the  home  of  another  uncle,  Mr. 
Abraham  Richards  of  New  York,  (one  of  the  firm  of 
A.  &  S.  Richards,  well  known  in  the  commercial  world 
and  doing  business  at  New  York,  Liverpool  and  Sa- 
vannah) she  had  silent  considerable  time,  and  had  thus 
added  to  the  simple  habits  of  her  country  home  some- 
thing of  the  larger  ideas  and  cultivated  tastes  and 
manners  of  the  city.  She  was  eminently  qualified  by 
sound  and  cool  judgment  and  by  her  first=rate  com- 
mon sense  to  be  my  wise  adviser  amid  the  perplexing 
questions  with  which  I  was  soon  to  be  surrounded,  as 
well  as  to  be  the  head  and  ornament  of  my  home. 
Deeper  and  better  than  all,  her  heart  was  an  inex- 
haustible fountain  of  affection.  Most  graphically 
did  the  wise  man  draw  her  portrait,  "She  openeth 
her  mouth  with  wisdom;  and  in  her  tongue  is  the  law 
of  kindness." 

I  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  return  to  New  Hav- 
en, in  October  1827,  and  devote  myself  entirely  to 
the  study  of  theology.  But  insufficient  resources 
obliged  me  to  continue  the  school  for  another  term. 
The  winter  school,  however,  was  always  less  crowded 
and  heterogeneous  than  the  summer  term,  and  I  was 
able  to  return  to  theological  study  on  the  first  of  the 
following  April  in  e  xcellent  health.  There  I  found 
the  task  before  me  a  severe  one,  because  I  was  obliged 
by  lack  of  money  to  teach  an  hour  or  two  daily  in  a 
school  for  young  ladies. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY. 

Nothing  could  well  have  been  more  agreeable  to 
my  tastes  than  my  surroundings  during  my  theologi- 
cal studies  at  New  Haven.  I  was  encircled  by  culti- 
vated minds  whose  tastes  and  aims  were  in  harmony 
with  my  own.  I  had  much  to  enjoy  and  as  little  of 
the  disagreeable  to  endure  as  we  have  any  right  to  ex- 
pect in  this  world.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  in- 
terest of  the  theological  department  of  Yale  was  at  that 
time  chiefly  concentrated  in  one  man,  Nathaniel  W. 
Taylor,  D.  D.,  professor  of  Didactic  Theology.  He 
had  a  wonderful  magnetic  jiower  over  young  men  eager 
to  understand  religious  truth.  When  I  became  his 
pupil  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his  celebrated  course  of 
lectures  on  moral  government.  I  believe  that  Dr. 
Taylor  was  raised  up  to  furnish  what  the  theological 
world  at  that  time  greatly  needed,  a  lucid  and  dis- 
criminating statement  of  those  intuitions  which  lie  at 
the  foundation  of  all  religion,  morality,  authority, 
government,  society  and  civilization.  I  had  thought 
enough  to  have  become  quite  conscious  of  the  diffi- 
culties which  environ  the  subjects,  and  was  prepared 
to  receive  Dr.  Taylor's  clear  statements  with  enthusi- 
asm and  to  appreciate  the  light  they  shed  upon  prob- 
lems which  before  had  seemed  encompassed  with 
obscurity.  Those  lectures  had  in  them  nothing  of 
the  spirit  of  negation.  They  held  the  mind  fast  to 
those  fundamental  truths  on  which  all  moral  and  re- 

121 


122  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ligious  obligations  must  rest.  No  one  who  really  com- 
preliended  them  could  have  become  a  skeptic.  He 
convinced  us  that  the  ideas  of  duty  and  authority  rest 
as  securely  on  the  certain  and  inevitable  intuitions  of 
the  soul  as  the  sciences  of  geometry  and  physics.  He 
rescued  our  minds  from  the  innumerable  fallacies 
which  originate  in  vague  thinking  and  confused  modes 
of  exj)ression,  and  shari^ly  distinguished  between  the 
fundamental  principles  of  theology  and  those  indefi- 
nite speculations  with  w^iich  they  are  often  com- 
mingled. Dr.  Taylor  gained  the  full  confidence  of 
his  pupils  by  the  positive  assurance  that  we  may  know 
and  impart  truth,  and  by  the  faith  which  is  inspired 
in  the  impregnable  foundations  of  our  Christian 
hope.  It  is  not  my  jDurpose  to  appear  as  a  critic 
of  Dr.  Taylor  as  a  theologian.  It  is,  however, 
appropriate  for  me  to  state  as  clearly  as  I  am  able,  the 
influence  which  he  exerted  on  my  own  theological 
thinking.  That  is  a  jDart  of  my  history.  I  shall,  how- 
ever, attempt  to  trace  his  influence  only  in  respect  to 
a  few  fundamental  questions. 

On  the  "Freedom  of  the  Will,"  he  did  little  to  re- 
lieve my  difficulties.  He  always  professed  to  be  a 
disciple  of  Edwards;  yet  I  was  unable  to  reconcile 
many  of  his  teachings  with  those  of  that  great  meta- 
physician. Under  his  instruction  I  failed  to  reach 
the  conception  that  the  mind  itself  is  the  cause  of  its 
own  volitions,  an  idea  which  I  now  regard  as  funda- 
mental to  the  whole  subject. 

Though  it  is  true  that  there  can  be  no  choice  with- 
out the  iDresence  of  two  objects,  each  of  which  is  in 
the  soul's  view  more  or  less  desirable;  that  is,  the  soul 
cannot  choose  without  a  motive;  yet  it  has  the  power 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMIXARY  123 

to  make  either  of  the  two  opposite  choices  in  all  pos- 
sible states  of  the  motives. 

The  desire  for  one  of  the  objects  may  be  very 
strongly  excited,  and  for  the  other  very  feebly,  yet 
the  soul  has  the  power,  under  the  pressure  of  moral 
obligation  or  a  conviction  of  permanent  advantage,  of 
choosing  that  for  which  desire  is  most  feeble  and 
of  rejecting  that  for  which  desire  is  strongest.  If 
this  be  not  so,  then  desire  and  not  the  will  is  the  con- 
trolling power  in  the  hearts  of  men,  just  as  it  cer- 
tainly is  in  the  lower  orders  of  animals,  and  man  has  no 
more  moral  nature  than  the  brute.  Though  Dr.  Taylor 
was  far  from  teaching  this  last  doctrine,  yet  he  failed 
to  prove  clearly  to  my  understanding  the  absolute  as- 
cendency of  the  will  over  all  forms  and  degrees  of  de- 
sire, and  therefore  failed  to  make  plain  the  distinc- 
tion between  a  moral  and  an  irrational  nature.  Give 
us  this  fundamental  conception  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  will  is  short  and  simple.  To  this  conclusion  I 
came  long  afterwards  by  carrying  out  those  very 
lines  of  thought  which  Dr.  Taylor  had  originated  in 
my  mind. 

Dr.  Taylor  was  very  severely  criticized  for  teaching 
that  all  sin  is  voluntary.  His  position  on  that  ques- 
tion brought  complete  relief  from  difficulties  wdiicli 
had  greatly  perplexed  me,  and  afforded  similar  deliv- 
erance to  thousands  of  honest  minds.  If  we  in.sist 
that  God  condemns  men  for  evil  inclinations  which 
lie  back  of  all  choice  on  their  own  part  we  shall  fail 
to  vindicate  our  theology  before  men  of  candid  and 
discriminating  minds.  I  can  never  be  too  grateful 
for  the  light  Dr.  Taylor  afforded  on  this  important 
subject. 


124  JULIAN  M.  STVRTEVANT 

Another  theme  on  which  his  teachings  were  much 
criticized,  and  in  respect  to  which  there  is  still  an 
honest  difference  of  opinion,  is  the  theory  of  moral 
obligation.  On  this  question  my  mind  was  always 
much  interested,  and  I  heard  him  with  earnest  atten- 
tion. I  think  he  has  been  wrongly  judged  because 
his  phraseology  was  not  altogether  felicitous,  for  I 
fully  accepted  at  the  time  the  view  which  I  under- 
stood him  to  teach,  and  which  I  have  since  held  with 
entire  confidence. 

He  did  not  agree  with  Paley,  in  teaching  that  the 
notion  of  right  is  the  result  of  mere  association,  edu- 
cation and  custom,  but  held  that  it  originated  in  an 
intuition.     He  did  not,  however,  use  that  phrase. 

If  Dr.  Taylor  had  enjoyed  the  clearer  light  which 
has  been  shed  by  the  definitions  of  later  scholars  up- 
on the  phraseology  which  describes  the  intuitional 
function  of  the  intellect,  he  would  have  been  under- 
stood as  holding  to  the  intuitional  origin  of  the  idea 
of  right  as  truly  as  Dr.  Wayland  or  Bishop  Butler. 
Dr.  Taylor  differed  from  these  distinguished  men  not 
in  debating  whether  right  is  an  intuition,  but  upon 
the  question  what  it  is  which  the  mind  discerns  by 
intuition. 

Those  two  writers  held  that  right  is  an  ultimate 
idea  intuitionally  discerned.  Dr.  Hopkins  has  shown 
the  fallacy  of  this  in  his  "Law  of  Love."  The  system 
which  I  supposed  myself  to  have  received  from  Dr. 
Taylor  teaches  that  the  soul  intuitively  discerns  that 
the  idea  of  the  greatest  good,  on  the  whole  is  the 
universal  and  only  antecedent  of  the  idea  of  obliga- 
tion. 

If,  with  Dr.  Wayland,  we  hold  that  right  becomes 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  125 

an  ultimate  intuition,  we  are  placed  in  the  same  rela- 
tion to  moral  as  to  esthetic  questions.  "  Do  giisfibus 
non  est  dispiitandiim.''''  There  is  no  room  for  argu- 
ment about  the  beautiful,  not  because  there  is  no 
difference  of  opinion  about  it,  but  because  beauty  is 
an  ultimate  intuition.  If  riglitness  is  an  ultimate 
quality  of  moral  actions,  which  is  intuitively  dis- 
cerned without  a  known  standard  by  which  actions 
are  to  be  tested,  then  the  "  non  est  disjJutanduni " 
applies  also  to  morals.  Dr.  Wayland  evidently  feels 
this  difficulty  when  in  the  same  section  he  makes  the 
will  of  God  as  manifested  in  natural  and  revealed 
religion  to  be  ultimate  and  not  the  intuition  of  right. 
Doubtless  the  manifested  will  of  the  Creator  is  decis- 
ive so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  character  of  an  action; 
but  that  surely  does  not  account  for  the  origin  in  the 
human  soul  of  the  idea  of  right,  which  was  the  par- 
ticular point  at  issue  in  Dr.  Wayland's  paragraph. 
Dr.  Taylor  taught  that  the  soul  intuitively  recognizes 
its  obligation  to  do  that  which  will  promote  the  great- 
est good;  Revelation  teaches  what  actions  will  have 
that  effect. 

Our  professor  was  very  sharply  censured  for  the 
position  in  which  he  placed  "  self  dove  or  the  desire 
of  haj)piness  "  in  relation  to  moral  choice.  I  think 
no  philosophic  term  in  the  English  language  has 
caused  so  much  confusion  or  widespread  discussion 
as  the  word  selfdove.  Dr.  Taylor  always  intended  to 
use  it  as  synonymous  with  the  desire  of  happiness; 
but  his  use  of  it  occasions  much  perplexity  and  mis- 
understanding. The  word  love  is  used  in  philosophi- 
cal treatises  in  two  quite  different  senses.  It  is  some- 
times a  mere  impulse  implying  no  act  of  the  will.   At 


126  JULIAN  21.  STURTEVANT 

other  times  it  is  used  to  express  a  choice  of  one  thing 
in  preference  to  another;  a  deliberate  purpose.  In  the 
term  selfdove  it  should  be  understood  to  imj^ly  a 
mere  impulse,  or  rather  the  generic  impulse.  Each 
appetite  or  desire  is  self==love  acting  in  some  specific 
direction.  It  would  obviate  much  confusion  to  dis- 
pense with  this  term  altogether  and  employ  in  its 
stead  the  desire  of  good,  or  of  happiness. 

When  a  writer  speaks  of  the  love  of  one's  neigh- 
bors and  almost  in  the  same  sentence  of  self  dove,  he 
will  confuse  his  hearers  and  perhaps  himself,  if  by 
love  in  one  case  he  means  a  deliberate  choice,  and  in 
the  other  a  mere  impulse  to  seek  happiness.  Yet 
writers  and  speakers  err  at  this  point.  Self-love  and 
the  love  of  one's  neighbor  are  not  in  contrast.  The 
wicked  man  is  not  one  that  has  too  much  selfdove. 
He  is  his  own  worst  enemy.  The  virtuous  man  has 
not  less  self  dove  than  he.  The  wrong=doer  is  persist- 
ently destroying  his  own  haj)piness.  The  good  man 
is  ever  securing  his  own  highest  welfai'e.  Let  us  call 
that  desire  of  good  by  which  all  human  activity  is 
impelled,  the  desire  of  hapj^iness.  Let  us  place  it  at 
the  root  of  all  our  active  powers  and  recognize  it  as 
the  one  generic  impulse  comprehending  in  itself  all 
specific  impulses.  We  shall  then  see  clearly  that  the 
virtuous  man  is  he  who  subordinates  this  and  all  the 
impulses  comprehended  in  it  to  the  deliberate  pur- 
pose to  promote  with  all  his  powers  the  highest  good 
of  all,  while  he  only  is  truly  the  wicked  man  who 
refuses  to  control  his  life  by  this  law  of  love.  We 
shall  then  tell  the  wicked  man  to  his  face  that  he  is 
his  own  worst  enemy,  and  the  virtuous  man  not  that 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  127 

he  loves  himself  less  than  others  do,  but  that  he  is 
securing  his  own  highest  welfare. 

We  shall  then  be  prepared  to  understand  the  first  of 
that  remarkable  series  of  resolutions  which  President 
Edwards  invariably  read  once  each  week:  "  Besolred: 
that  I  will  do  whatsoever  I  think  most  to  God's  glory 
and  my  own  good,  profit  and  x^leasure  on  the  whole," 
etc.  President  Edwards  saw  clearly  enough  that  the 
purpose  to  do  whatsoever  is  "  to  God's  glory  "  is  per- 
fectly in  harmony  with  the  resolution  to  do  wliatso- 
ever  is  "  to  my  own  good,  i)rofit  and  pleasure,  on  the 
whole."  The  imrpose  to  secure  those  rich  blessings 
for  myself  will  lead  me  to  follow  precisely  the  same 
line  of  action  as  the  i^urpose  to  do  what  is  most  for 
God's  glory. 

The  system  of  which  this  is  a  faint  outline  I  re- 
ceived from  Dr.  Taylor.  The  phraseology  is  my  own. 
According  to  this  system  the  selfish  man  is  the  man 
who  is  determined  to  secure  his  own  happiness  with- 
out regard  to  the  welfare  of  others;  while  the  benevo- 
lent man  is  he  who  deliberately  determines  to  seek 
his  own  highest  good  by  promoting  the  greatest  good 
of  the  whole. 

Dr.  Taylor's  teaching  respecting  the  penalty  for 
disobedience  of  law  under  a  perfect  moral  government 
was  very  original,  and  it  strongly  arrested  my  atten- 
tion. He  held  that  the  function  of  penalty  is  to  make 
upon  the  subjects  the  strongest  i^ossible  impression 
of  the  moral  governor's  abhorrence  of  sin,  and  that 
no  penalty  can  be  adequate  to  this  purj^ose  short  of 
the  greatest  amount  of  suffering  which  the  ruler  can 
inflict  and  the  guilty  subject  endure.     This  suffering 


128  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

must,  of  course,  be  endless.  His  argument  was  de- 
rived a  priori  from  the  nature  of  moral  government, 
but  was  confirmed,  as  he  claimed,  by  the  Scriptures. 
At  the  time  I  could  not  reply,  and  therefore  received 
his  teachings  as  valid.  Subsequent  reflection,  how- 
ever, began  to  shake  my  confidence  in  his  position 
and  finally  deterred  me  from  using  it  in  the  puljjit. 
I  think  there  is  a  fallacy  in  the  a  priori  argument. 
It  is  not  intuitively  evident  that  the  extremest  possi- 
ble severity  in  punishing  violators  of  his  law  is  the 
only  method  by  which  a  moral  governor  can  manifest 
his  supreme  regard  for  law  and  his  abhorrence  of  its 
violation.  He  can  make  this  manifestation  quite  as 
much  by  the  effort  he  makes  to  win  back  and  restore 
to  allegiance  any  who  may  have  revolted  from  his 
authority.  The  infliction  of  penalty  is  one,  and  only 
one,  of  the  ways  in  which  a  moral  governor  may  man- 
ifest his  regard  for  his  law.  The  employment  of  suita- 
ble agencies  to  reform  the  guilty  is  as  truly  essential 
to  the  maintenance  of  his  authority  as  is  the  j)unish- 
ment  of  the  incorrigibly  rebellious. 

It  is  impossible  to  properly  treat  this  subject  with- 
out viewing  it  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  the 
atonement.  It  has  long  seemed  to  me  a  great  defect 
in  our  theology  that  we  seem  to  assume  that  a  moral 
governor  may  rightly  administer  his  government  by 
mere  rewards  and  punishments  without  a  iDroper  rem- 
edial system.  There  is  nothing  either  in  the  Scrip- 
tures or  outside  of  them  to  justify  such  an  assump- 
tion. The  authority  of  any  moral  governor  over  his 
subjects  depends  on  the  confidence  which  he  inspires 
that  his  M'hole  heart  and  character  are  in  harmony 
with  a  righteous  law.     It  is  quite   as   necessary  in 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  129 

order  to  such  coiitideuce  that  he  should  devise  and 
carry  into  execution  appropriate  measures  for  reform- 
ing- the  faHen  as  that  he  should  show  his  displeasure 
against  the  incorrigibly  guilty.  The  idea  of  a  gov- 
ernment administered  over  a  race  of  fallen  subjects, 
propagated  through  unnumbered  generations  aud  yet 
not  hopelessly  beyond  the  reach  of  reform,  without 
any  reformatory  system  is  to  my  mind  utterly  revolt- 
ing. A  government  so  administered  cannot  insiDire 
the  confidence  of  its  subjects  in  the  perfect  rectitude 
of  the  governor. 

Our  theology  seems  almost  to  have  overlooked  this 
principle,  yet  it  seems  to  me  intuitively  evident.  We 
all  know  that  the  higliest,  the  crowning  excellence,  of 
the  Christian  character  is  manifested  in  self^^^sacrific- 
ing  effort  to  bring  sinners  to  repentance.  The  man 
who  lacks  that  one  element  of  Christlikeness,  can 
hardly  be  recognized  as  a  disciple,  however  fault- 
less he  may  be  in  other  respects.  The  sacrifice  of 
His  only  Son  on  the  cross  to  save  sinners  is  admitted 
to  be  the  very  highest  manifestation  of  God's  right- 
eousness. How  can  He  so  impressively  exhibit  His 
abhorrence  of  sin  in  any  other  way?  Does  a  parent 
best  exhibit  his  preference  of  virtue  to  vice  by  the 
severity  with  which  he  punishes  bis  erring  child,  or 
by  the  earnestness  and  expensiveness  of  his  efforts  to 
reclaim  the  fallen?  The  untutored  human  heart  an- 
swers without  the  least  hesitation. 

Dr.  Taylor  taught  the  governmental  view  of  the 
atonement.  I  do  not  know  that  his  method  of  stat- 
ing it  was  j)articularly  novel  or  attractive,  but  at  the 
time  I  accepted  his  views  without  a  doubt.  It  was 
not  till  endeavoring  to  emiDhasize  his  idea  in  preach- 


130  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ing  that  I  found  an  insurmountable  difficulty.  Ac- 
cording to  that  theory,  God  is  supi^osed  by  the  atone- 
ment to  have  made  a  manifestation  of  His  abhorrence 
of  that  sin  which  is  the  transgression  of  His  law  as 
great  as  He  would  have  made  by  the  infliction  of  the 
full  penalty  on  every  transgressor.  To  this  statement 
I  soon  began  to  feel  a  very  perplexing  objection.  I 
was  entirely  unable  to  see  how  the  death  of  Christ 
did  make  such  a  manifestation.  Therefore  Dr.  Tay- 
lor's view  of  the  atonement  seemed  to  me  shorn  of  all 
power  to  move  the  soul.  In  view  of  this  objection  I 
was  obliged  to  fall  back  on  wdiat  is  substantially  Bishop 
Butler's  view  of  the  matter.  The  Holy  Scriptures 
teach  that  the  death  of  Christ  on  the  cross  was  a 
necessity  in  order  that  God  "  might  be  just,  and  the 
justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in  Jesus." 

Surely  the  preservation  of  moral  authority  has  two 
indisiDcnsable  conditions:  the  infliction  of  an  adequate 
penalty  on  the  persistent  and  incorrigible  ofPender, 
and  such  an  administration  of  the  government  as  will 
provide  the  most  effectual  possible  means  for  the 
reformation  and  restoration  of  the  fallen.  If  the  gov- 
ernment either  refused  to  pardon  any,  however  peni- 
tent, or  pardoned  with  easy  indifference  those  who, 
self=moved,  might  repent,  while  it  made  no  painstak- 
ing and  self=sacrificing  efforts  to  secure  the  reforma- 
tion of  transgressors,  its  subjects  would  have  little 
faith  in  its  moral  rectitude.  Such  a  ruler  would  not 
seem  to  love  righteousness  supremely  or  to  hate  sin 
with  a  perfect  hatred.  This  requisite  of  a  perfect 
moral  authority  the  mediatorial  system  supi^lies.  The 
atonement  expresses  God's  supreme  desire  to  reclaim 
the  perishing  and  restore  the  lost  to  holiness  and  the 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  131 

hapi)iness  wliicli  virtue  insures.  It  is  the  effort  of 
the  Heavenly  Father  to  bring  His  lost  children  home. 
In  this  way  the  Cross  manifests  most  impressively 
God's  supreme  righteousness. 

Two  tilings  are  to  me  inconceivable.  One  of  them 
is  that  such  a  being  as  our  God  can  ever  be  propitious 
to  an  impenitent  sinner.  The  other  is  that  such  a 
being  can  under  any  conditions  be  uni)roi)itious  to  a 
truly  i)enitent  sinner.  Between  these  two  inconceiv- 
ables  there  is  amijle  room  for  the  redemptive  system, 
without  which  the  Gospel  is  no  gospel.  The  eternal 
punishment  of  the  wicked  appears  to  me  just  as  cer- 
tain as  the  existence  of  incorrigible  sin.  And  I  do 
not  see  how  a  sober  minded  man  can  doubt  the  reality 
of  either.  There  is  a  fatal  stage  of  moral  disease 
toward  which  every  imiDcnitent  sinner  is  constantly 
tending.  So  far  from  there  being  any  reason  why  he 
should  encourage  himself  with  the  hoi^e  of  a  proba- 
tion in  future  life,  he  has  the  greatest  reason  to  fear 
that  he  may  terminate  his  own  probation  long  before 
his  soul  leaves  the  body. 

I  have  given  so  much  space  to  Dr.  Taylor's  theology 
because  no  other  mind  has  exerted  so  great  an  influ- 
ence on  my  thinking  as  his.  He  did  not  teach  us  to 
follow  his  instructions  blindly,  or  to  accept  anything 
upon  his  authority,  l)ut  cultivated  in  us  the  habit  of 
self-reliance.  He  had  arrested  my  attention,  awak- 
ened my  enthusiasm,  and  impressed  his  system  indel- 
libly  upon  my  mind.  His  teachings  became  the  start- 
ing point,  not  the  end  of  my  religious  thinking,  and 
they  greatly  assisted  me  in  constructing  the  theologic 
house  in  which  I  have  since  lived.  This  house  has 
undergone  many  changes,  having  been  limited  here 


132  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

and  extended  there,  but  it  is  still  the  same  house,  and 
here  I  shall  abide  till  the  end,  ever  thankful  to  God 
for  so  long  a  lease. 

I  can  hardly  sufficiently  deplore  the  lack  of  impulse, 
given  to  Bible  study  at  New  Haven  in  my  time.  No 
study  of  theology  in  its  technical  form  can  be  so  use- 
ful to  the  student  and  the  preacher,  as  familiarity  with 
those  concrete  teachings  which  are  the  glory  of  the 
Scrij^tures.  The  knowledge  of  a  theological  system 
is  by  no  means  a  substitute  for  the  truth  expressed  in 
the  living  language  of  the  imagination  and  the  pas- 
sions. To  gain  command  of  this  for  the  purpose  of 
popular  utterance,  we  must  know  the  glowing  imagery 
of  the  poets  and  prophets  of  old,  the  very  words  of 
Christ  Himself  and  feel  the  holy  enthusiasm  of  these 
who  saw  the  Lord  and  heard  Him  speak.  I  am  grate 
ful  to  the  Theological  Seminary  for  what  it  did  for 
me;  it  might  have  done  much  more. 


CHAPTER   VI II. 

PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

It  is  neither  possible  nor  desirable  to  confine  the 
attention  of  a  group  of  theological  students  exclu- 
sively to  that  course  of  jDreparatory  study  on  which 
they  are  engaged.  They  should  view  the  broad  field 
and  ascertain  for  what  peculiar  form  of  labor  they  are 
best  fitted,  being  ready  to  go  into  whatsoever  part  of 
the  world  the  Lord  may  call.  The  minds  of  my  fel- 
low^students  were  always  open  to  such  inquiries,  and 
in  our  social  devotions  these  questions  were  [)romi- 
nent  themes.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  saj^  that 
the  spirit  manifested  in  the  seminary  was  admirable. 
If  there  was  any  disposition  toward  j)lfice=seeking  for 
worldly  advantage  it  was  so  overborne  by  a  spirit  of 
consecration  to  the  Master's  service  that  it  was  sel- 
dom expressed.  A  large  number  of  the  aljler  men 
among  us  were  really  attracted  toward  distant  mis- 
sionary fields  rather  than  toward  wealthy  congrega- 
tions near  us. 

Our  own  country  at  that  time  presented  considera- 
tions to  candidates  for  the  Christian  ministry  in  some 
resi)ects  novel  and  striking.  The  people  of  the 
United  States,  then  chiefly  limited  to  the  Atlantic 
slope,  had  just  begun  to  realize  that  our  population 
would  ere  long  cover  all  the  vast  region  of  unequalled 
natural  resources  lying  between  the  AUeghanies  and 
the  Rocky  mountains,  and  fill  it  with  prosperous  states. 

lo3 


134  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

To  the  Christian  patriot,  this  promise  of  the  near 
future  was  a  stimulus  to  greater  activity  in  the  work 
of  home  evangelization  than  had  been  before  attained 
or  even  conceived.  It  was  a  stimulus  both  to  hope 
and  to  fear  There  was  hope  that  if  churches  and 
schools  kept  pace  with  the  tide  of  migration,  and 
these  vast  solitudes  were  presently  filled  with  an 
intelligent  and  Christian  population,  our  country 
would  become  a  blessing  to  the  whole  earth.  There 
was  reason  for  fear  lest,  without  the  institutions  of  a 
Christian  civilization,  these  coming  millions  would 
be  given  over  to  the  superstitions  of  all  grasjjing 
Rome  or  to  the  horrors  or  a  godless  infidelity.  There 
was  a  great  awakening  to  the  urgency  of  home  evan- 
gelization. 

Nowhere  was  this  new  impulse  more  powerfully 
felt  than  in  our  theological  seminaries.  In  ours  it 
became  in  a  measure  absorbing.  The  "  Society  of 
Inquiry "  held  monthly  meetings  at  which  we  were 
edified  by  papers  and  addresses  from  our  own  mem- 
bers, or  from  others  who  could  give  us  special  infor- 
mation about  the  various  departments  of  home  and 
foreign  missions.  These  meetings  were  occasions  of 
much  interest  and  great  devotional  fervor.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  society  held  in  December,  1828,  a  pow- 
erful and  highly  stimulating  essay  was  read  by  Rev. 
Tlieron  Baldwin,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been 
made. 

My  lifedong  intimacy  with  this  noble  man  began 
on  that  evening.  He  was  already  in  a  measure  jjledged 
by  a  providential  event  to  a  missionary  life.  His 
elder  brother,  Abraham  Baldwin,  had  labored  with 
signal  success  among  the  French  in  Canada  during 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE  135 

the  last  part  of  his  very  short  hut  useful  iiiiuistry. 
He  died  among  kind  Christian  friends,  but  far  from 
his  kindred.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  affi- 
anced to  Miss  Caroline  Wilder,  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  a 
lady  of  culture  who  was  in  thorough  sympathy  with 
the  missionary  cause.  My  friend,  Theron  Baldwin, 
went  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  his  relatives  to  the 
scene  of  his  brother's  late  labors,  to  learn  the  story  of 
his  last  illness  and  take  charge  of  his  effects.  On  the 
journey  it  was  his  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted 
with"  Miss  Wilder,  whose  charming  character  and 
heroic  Christian  devotion  subsequently  won  his  heart. 
On  his  return  she  accom^Danied  him  to  his  father's 
house,  and  her  influence  doubtless  increased  the  spir- 
itual power  of  the  essay  which  so  impressed  me  on 
that  eventful  evening. 

Returning  to  his  room,  after  the  meeting  that  night, 
Mr.  Baldwin  fell  in  with  his  college  classmate,  Mason 
Grosvenor,  who  was  also  my  friend.  In  the  conversa- 
tion that  followed,  Mr.  Grosvenor  suggested  the  out- 
lines of  a  plan  which  not  long  afterward  became  the 
germ  of  an  a.ssociation.  This  organization  among 
the  Yale  theological  students  was,  in  the  hands  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  princijoal  agency  in  founding 
Illinois  College.  Mr.  Grosvenor's  plan  was  to  form 
an  association  of  theological  students,  known  to  each 
other  and  bound  by  mutual  ties,  for  the  purpose  of 
co-operating  in  the  work  of  home  missions.  A  front- 
ier state,  or  territory  likely  soon  to  become  a  state, 
was  to  be  selected  as  a  common  field  of  labor.  It  was 
proposed  to  establish  there  an  institution  of  learning, 
and  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  association  to  foster 
its  growth  and  efficiency,  while  the  members  strength- 


136  JULIAN  M.  STUUTEVANT 

ened  each  other's  hands  in  the  use  of  all  evangelical 
instrumentalities.  By  this  means  they  hoped  to 
secure  co=operation,  which  is  often  so  difficult  to  ob- 
tain among  the  scattered  population  'of  the  frontier, 
and  to  avoid  that  peculiar  isolation  which  is  among 
the  greatest  disadvantages  of  a  home  missionary  on 
the  borders  of  the  wilderness.  The  concej)tion  was 
certainly  felicitous.  It  awakened  great  interest  in 
the  minds  of  my  two  friends,  and  led  not  only  to  the 
organization  of  the  Illinois  band,  but  to  the  formation 
of  other  bands  of  theological  students  destined  for 
the  West.  The  most  famous  of  these  was  the  Iowa 
band,  which  was  organized  in  Andover  Seminary  in 
1842,  and  which  has  been  a  most  efficient  agency  in 
the  evangelization  of  a  great  state. 

In  consequence,  probably,  of  my  early  frontier  ex- 
perience I  was  soon  taken  into  the  counsels  of  those 
most  interested  in  this  jolan,  and  I  co-operated  with 
great  enthusiasm  in  its  development.  Very  shortly 
after  Mr.  Grosvenor's  suggestion  a  communication 
appeared  in  the  "Home  Missionary"  from  the  pen  of 
Rev.  John  M.  Ellis,  a  minister  in  the  employment  of 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  then  sta- 
tioned at  Kaskaskia,  Illinois,  but  expecting  soon  to 
remove  to  Jacksonville.  In  this  communication,  Mr. 
Ellis  gave  a  sketch  of  a  seminary  of  learning  projected 
by  himself  and  a  few  friends  in  that  state  to  be  estab- 
lished at  Jacksonville,  and  invited  the  help  of  eastern 
friends.  Mr.  Grosvenor  immediately  wrote  to  Mr. 
Ellis  informing  him  of  the  plan  of  our  organization 
and  suggested  that  the  association  might  be  disposed 
to  choose  Illinois  for  its  field,  and  assist  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  proposed  seminary,  should   its  aims 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE  137 

and  j)urposes  be  fcjuiul  in  harinoiiy  with  our  plans 
To  convey  a  letter  to  Illinois  and  receive  an  answer 
would  at  that  time  require  about  two  months  instead 
of  four  days  as  at  j)resent.  In  the  meantime  a  number 
of  earnest  young  men  were  considering  the  question 
of  entering  into  such  an  association.  It  was  with  all 
of  ns  the  grave  problem  of  a  life  investment.  The 
more  it  was  considered,  the  more  it  grew  in  favor. 
My  personal  knowledge  of  the  urgency  of  the  work 
of  home  evangelization  made  the  question  compar- 
atively easy.  With  the  wants  of  the  frontier  so 
distinctly  before  me  I  could  not  think  of  going  to  a 
foreign  field,  or  of  seeking  a  settlement  in  any  of  the 
churches  in  the  older  states.  I  felt  that  Providence 
had  selected  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  for  my 
home,  and  I  dared  not  desert  it  in  the  emergency 
which  I  felt  was  upon  it.  I  highly  apx^reciated  the 
advantages  of  the  proposed  association,  for  I  dreaded 
the  isolation  of  the  frontier.  It  is  proper  also  to 
state  that  my  associates  told  me  from  the  beginning 
that  they  would  need  my  services  as  teacher  in  the 
new  institution.  This  plan  suited  my  tastes  much 
better  than  entering  the  pastorate. 

Long  before  Mr.  Ellis'  reiDly  was  received  the  asso- 
ciation had  taken  form  and  i^ersonality,  though  we 
had  not  yet  affixed  our  signatures  to  any  written 
obligation. 

Some  of  us  wished  before  doing  that  to  wait  for 
Mr.  Ellis'  letter,  so  that  the  i)i'oposed  plan  might  be 
rendered  more  definite.  The  answer  came  in  due 
time,  inviting  us  to  select  Illinois  as  our  western 
home  and  placing  the  constitution  of  the  proposed 


138  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

seminary  in   our  hands   to  be  modified  to  suit  our 
wishes. 

In  my  own  case  it  may  readily  be  supposed  that  as 
the  happiness  of  two  persons  was  involved,  both  were 
to  be  consulted  before  the  decision  was  reached.  The 
whole  subject  was  laid  frankly  before  Miss  Fayer- 
weather,  and  without  the  least  attempt  to  conceal  the 
trials  incident  to  the  location  of  our  home  five  hun- 
dred miles  west  of  civilization.  She  was  far  from 
being  a  romantic  girl.  At  twenty  two  years  of  age 
she  was  a  woman  of  rare  thoughtf  ulness  and  sobriety, 
and,  judging  correctly  of  the  future,  cheerfully  ap- 
proved the  plan.  I  signed  the  compact,  and  that 
signature  bound  me  to  a  lifework  that  continued 
while  great  states  were  born  and  nations  rose  and 
fell.  * 

*  The  document  here  mentioned  is  still  preserved  with  the 
signatures  appended,  and  a  cordial  and  complimentary  endorse- 
ment from  President  Day  and  Professors  Taylor  and  Gibbs. 
It  is  as  follows: 

Believing  in  the  entire  alienation  of  the  natural  heart  from 
God,  in  the  necessity  of  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  its 
renovation,  and  that  these  influences  are  not  to  be  expected 
without  the  use  of  means;  deeply  impressed  also  with  the  desti- 
tute condition  of  the  Western  section  of  our  country  and  the 
urgent  claims  of  its  inhabitants  upon  the  benevolent  at  the  East, 
and  in  view  of  the  fearful  crisis  evidently  approaching,  and 
which  we  believe  can  only  be  averted  by  speedy  and  energetic 
measures  on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  religion  and  literature  in 
the  older  States,  and  believing  that  evangelical  religion  and 
education  must  go  hand  in  hand  in  order  to  the  successful  ac- 
complishment of  this  desirable  object;  we  the  undersigned 
hereby  express  our  readiness  to  go  to  the  State  of  Illinois  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  Seminary  of  learning  such  as  shall 
be  best  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  that  country — a  part  of  us 


PLAXS  FOR  THE  FUTURE  139 

to  engage  in  instruction  in  the  Seminary — the  others  to  occupy — 
as  preachers — important  stations  in  the  surrounding  country — 
provided  the  undertaking  be  deemed  practicable,  and  the  loca- 
tion approved — and  provided  also  the  providence  of  God  permit 
us  to  engage  in  it. 

Thekon  Baldwin,         John  F.  Brooks, 
Mason  Geosvenob,         Elisha  Jenney,         William  Kieby, 

Julian  M.  Stuetevant,         Asa  Tuenee,  Je. 
Theological  Department  Yale  College,  Feb.  21,  1829. 

Mr.  Ellis'  vep]}'  being  satisfactory,  the  organiza- 
tion was  speedily  completed.  A  plan  for  the  i^roposed 
institution  was  drawn  under  the  supervision  of  Pres- 
ident Day  of  Yale  and  several  other  eminent  profes- 
sors, and  was  forwarded  to  Mr.  Ellis  with  a  pledge 
that  as  soon  as  the  constitution  was  formally  accepted 
we  would  procure  $10,000  with  which  to  commence 
the  work,  and  remove  to  Illinois.  As  soon  as  the 
facilities  of  those  "  slow  times  "  permitted,  we  received 
a  formal  acceptance  of  our  offer.  According  to  the 
constitution  proposed  the  institution  was  to  be  con- 
trolled by  ten  trustees,  seven  of  whom  were  to  be  men 
composing  the  association  at  Yale  College,  viz:  Theron 
Baldwin,  John  F.  Brooks,  Mason  Grosvenor,  Elisha 
Jenney,  Wm.  Kirby,  Julian  M.  Sturtevant  and  Asa 
Turner.  The  remaining  three  trustees  were  to  be 
elected  by  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  of  two  or  three 
thousand  dollars,  which  had  already  been  raised  in 
Illinois.  With  these  funds  the  beautiful  site  on 
which  Illinois  College  now  stands  was  obtained,and  a 
beginning  made  by  erecting  a  small  two  story  brick 
building. 

These  arrangements  and  the  public  expectation 
which  had  been  awakened  created  an  unlooked-for 
necessity,    which    was    that    the   institution  should 


140  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

commence  operations  at  the  beginning  of  the  next 
year,  1830.  No  time  therefore  was  to  be  lost.  I  was 
ahnost  immediately  dispatched  to  New  York  to  lay 
our  plans  before  the  officers  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society,  and  to  consult  with  other  friends 
of  home  missions  in  that  city.  This  was  to  me  a 
grave  responsibility,  considering  my  youth  and 
inexperience.  But  how  could  I  decline?  This  was 
my  introduction  to  Rev.  Absalom  Peters,  then  the 
only  secretary  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society,  and  to  his  assistant,  that  truly  good  man, 
Eev.  Charles  Hall.  Dr.  Peters  received  me  with  all 
the  kindness  with  which  I  can  conceive  of  Paul 
receiving  his  son,  Timothy,  and  Mr.  Hall  seconded 
all  our  plans  with  an  enthusiasm  equal  to  our  own. 
They  invited  such  friends  and  directors  of  their 
society  as  were  accessible  to  meet  at  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary office  to  hear  the  statement  of  our  plans,  and 
to  give  such  counsel  as  might  seem  advisable.  The 
principal  persons  present  at  that  meeting,  besides  the 
secretary  and  his  assistant,  were  Rev.  Gardner  Spring, 
D.  D  ,  the  honored  pastor  of  the  old  brick  church, 
then  in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  Rev.  John 
Matthews,  D.  D.,  Dutch  Reformed,  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  New  York,  Matthias  Bruin,  and 
Rev.  Erskine  Mason,  the  last  two  much  beloved  and 
honored  Presbyterian  pastors  in  the  city.  At  that 
time,  no  Congregational  minister  held  any  public  po- 
sition in  New  York  or  its  vicinity.  The  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  was  then  the  trusted  organ 
of  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian  and  the  Dutch 
Reformed  churches  in  iDromoting  home  evangelization 
in  the  newer  parts  of  our  land.     The  three  churches 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE  141 

together  included  a  large  part  of  the  population  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey  and  New  England.  This 
noble  fellowship  of  the  Christian  people  of  the  Atlan- 
tic seaboard  in  the  work  of  home  missions  is  one  of 
the  brightest  memories  of  the  past. 

Before  this  body  of  representative  men  I  presented 
our  plans  and  asked  for  hearty  support,  especially 
through  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society, 
Our  plans  were  unanimously  approved.  The  Home 
Missionary  Society  gladly  agreed  to  send  us  to  our 
chosen  field  and  to  provide  as  far  as  was  necessary  for 
our  support.  They  also  j^ledged  their  endorsement 
and  countenance  to  our  educational  plans. 

It  was  now  apparent  that  two  of  our  number  must 
commence  work  in  Illinois  the  following  autumn. 
This  was  a  disappointment,  as  at  that  time  none  of  us 
would  have  finished  his  theological  course.  Having 
been  already  designated  as  a  teacher  it  was  necessary 
that  I  should  go,  as  the  institution  was  to  be  opened 
at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year.  Mr.  Baldwin, 
who  was  nearer  the  completion  of  his  divinity  studies 
than  any  of  his  brethren,  was  selected  to  accompany 
me.  Though  very  reluctant  to  lose  one  year  from  his 
course  of  study,  he  consented,  it  being  his  determina- 
tion to  return  and  finish  his  course  in  the  future,  but 
this  he  never  found  time  to  do.  I  had  less  regret  at 
this  abridgement  of  my  course,  because  my  work  was 
to  be  in  the  professor's  chair  rather  than  in  the  puli)it 
Could  I  then  have  foreseen  that  I  should  preach  at 
least  one  sermon  a  Sabbath  for  nearly  the  whole  of 
my  life,  I  might  have  regarded  the  matter  very  differ- 
ently. 


142  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

With  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Ellis,  who  came  east  for 
the  purpose,  the  $10,000  which  we  had  pledged  was 
raised  with  little  difficulty.  On  Thursday,  August 
28th,  1829,  Mr.  Baldwin  and  myself  were  ordained  to 
the  Christian  ministry  at  Woodbury,  Conn.,  the 
charge  being  given  by  Rev.  Matthias  Bruin  of  New 
York,  as  a  representative  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  Society.  In  this  charge  I  distinctly 
remember  a  sentence  which  at  the  time  gave  me  some 
pain.  "  Do  not "  said  he,  "  shock  the  prejudices  of  a 
western  audience  by  the  sight  of  a  manuscript." 
That,  thought  I,  may  be  good  advice,  but  if  so, all  the 
worse  for  me,  for  it  seemed  as  if  I  could  never  follow 
it.  I  was  destined  to  experience  no  small  trouble  on 
that  subject.  The  voice  that  delivered  that  charge, 
so  full  of  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  home  evangeli- 
zation, was  in  less  than  three  days  silent  in  death. 
Mr.  Bruin  was  stricken  down  in  his  x^ulpit  the  follow- 
ing Sabbath  morning.  Mysterious  and  unsearchable 
are  the  ways  of  Providence.  On  that  morning, 
August  30th,  I  preached  my  first  sermon  in  the  dear 
old  church  at  New  Canaan  to  a  large  congregation, 
most  of  whose  faces  had  become  in  the  last  three 
years  as  familiar  as  though  they  had  been  the  com- 
panions of  my  childhood.  They  heard  me  with  great 
indulgence,  for  I  cannot  think  that  the  deep  interest 
manifested  could  mean  more. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

WESTWARD  HO! 

The  mornincf  following  the  Sabbath  mentioned  at 
the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  I  awoke  to  a  train  of 
very  serious  reflections. 

That  morning,  even  before  breakfast,  I  was  to  meet 
a  small  party  in  the  parlor,  to  be  united  in  marriage 
with  the  woman  who  had  been  for  more  than  three 
years  the  object  of  my  constantly  increasing  attach- 
ment. Our  nuptial  day  had  come,  yet  I  thought 
anxiously  and  sadly  of  what  was  before  me.  for  I 
never  jiass  through  one  of  life's  great  changes  without 
experiencing,  temporarily  at  least,  a  painful  recoil; 
the  result  of  the  weak  conservatism  of  my  nature.  In 
view  of  the  future,  that  was  truly  an  anxious  hour. 
How  dare  I  in  my  youth,  and  with  such  a  pros^Dect 
before  me,  take  the  responsibility  of  the  care,  support, 
and  protection  of  the  noble  woman  who  had  consented 
to  leave  her  loving  kindred  that  morning  and  intrust 
her  all  to  me?  How  dared  her  friends  intrust  her  to 
my  care?  Thus  I  queried  with  a  feeling  almost  of 
guilt  for  proposing  to  make  her  my  associate  in  an 
enterprise  so  full  of  uncertainty,  self-sacrifice  and 
peril.  But  the  appointed  hour  had  come,  and  I  must 
go  on  trusting  to  the  deliberate  judgments  of  calmer 
hours, and  resting  on  the  care  and  protection  of  God. 

The  excellent  mother  of  my  bride  was  not  with  the 
small  circle  of  relatives.     Six  months  before  we  had 

143 


144  JULIAN  M.  &TURTEVANT 

followed  lier  remains  to  their  long  resting  place. 
Previous  to  her  death  she  had  lovingly  ajjproved  our 
intended  nnion. 

I  found  the  bride  dressed  for  a  journey;  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  life^journey  for  us  both. 

The  solemn  marriage  vows  were  exchanged,  and  we 
received  the  loving  congratulations  of  the  few  friends 
present,  only  seven  of  whom  remain;  one  of  these 
being  my  lifedong  friend,  Rev.  Flavel  Bascomb,  D.  D., 
of  Hinsdale,  Illinois.  After  an  excellent  breakfast, 
taken  joyfully  in  the  midst  of  expressions  of  love  and 
tenderness  never  to  be  forgotten,  we  said  good^by 
and  departed  for  a  round  of  short  visits.  First  we 
stopped  at  Warren,  the  dear  old  home  of  my  grand- 
mother, and  where  my  uucle,  Joseph  A.  Tanner,  and 
other  dear  relatives,  still  lived.  Afterwards  we  visited 
in  New  Canaan,  at  the  house  of  my  uncle,  Silas  Beck- 
ley,  and  my  mother's  sister,  Lydia,  and  then  at  Glas- 
tonbury at  the  home  of  my  mother's  sister,  Patty,  the 
wife  of  Dr.  Ralph  Carter.  Reaching  New  Haven  I 
was  in  season  for  Commencement,  and  found  many  of 
my  classmates  assembled  to  celebrate  the  third  anni- 
versary of  our  graduation.  With  others  I  received 
the  Master's  degree.  My  boyish  dream  of  college  life 
was  an  accomi)lished  fact.  Its  influence  had  been 
wrought  into  the  very  texture  of  my  being. 

From  that  day  I  was  a  student  of  Yale  no  more.  I 
had  embarked  on  the  great  ocean  of  life,  intrusted 
with  a  cargo  of  incalculable  value.  Who  can  tell 
what  hopes  had  been  formed  and  what  fervent 
prayers  had  ascended  in  behalf  of  the  sacred  cause  of 
home  missions,  as  represented  in  the  enterprise  for 
which  I  was  in  the  future  to  be  held  largely  responsi- 


WESTWAIW  HO!  145 

ble.  It  seemed  unfortunate  that  interests  so  momen- 
tous should  be  committed  to  one  so  young  and  inex- 
perienced. Only  seven  years  had  passed  since  the 
farewell,  so  sad  and  seeminglj'  so  hopeless,  at  the  ob- 
scure log=cabin  in  Tallmadge  at  the  beginning  of  our 
"  ride  and  tie  "  pilgrimage.  It  was  not  possible  that 
the  boy  of  1822  could  possess  the  wisdom  necessary 
for  the  resiDonsibilities  of  1829.  .  After  spending  three 
or  four  days  at  New  Canaan,  completing  arrange- 
ments for  our  long  journey,  we  bade  farewell  to  New 
England,  now  no  less  dear  to  me  than  if  I  had  never 
had  a  home  elsewhere,  and  turned  our  faces  toward 
the  setting  sun. 

I  can  mention  only  a  few  incidents  of  that  journey. 
At  that  time  most  of  the  i:)assenger  traffic  between 
Albanj'  and  Buffalo  was  carried  on  by  two  stage  lines 
One  of  these  corporations  was  long  established  and 
wealthy,  but  it  utterly  ignored  the  Sabbath.  The 
other,  known  as  the  "Pioneer  Line,"  was  undertaken 
and  managed  on  strictly  Sabbath=keeping  principles, 
and  for  that  reason  it  was  patronized  by  many  con- 
scientious peoi^le.  We  traveled  from  Schenectady  to 
Utica  by  canabboat,  and  then  took  the  Pioneer  Line 
to  Buffalo.  Reaching  Rochester  early  Friday  morn- 
ing we  rested  one  day,  laartly  because  we  greatly 
needed  rest  and  jjartly  for  the  purpose  of  calling  on 
an  acquaintance.  On  Saturday  morning  we  again 
took  the  stage  and  drove  rapidly  to  Lewiston,  where 
we  ferried  across  the  Niagara,  and  were  driven  thence  to 
the  Falls.  We  surveyed  the  stupendous  cataract  from 
Table  Rock,  and  were  ferried  across  the  boiling  flo(  d 
in  a  skiff.  We  ascended  the  bluff  on  the  American 
side  by  the  stair=case,  and  then  visited  Goat   Island. 


146  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

For  the  rare  pleasure  of  this  first  view  of  the  Falls 
we  were  indebted  to  the  shari^  comxDetition  of  the 
two  stage  lines,  and  particularly  to  what  was  then 
called  in  derision  "the  holy  line."  Thence  we  drove 
along  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  then  on  to  Black 
Rock,  and  crossed  over  to  BufPalo,  where  we  passed 
the  Sabbath. 

From  Butfalo  to  Erie  we  went  by  steamboat,  and 
thence  to  Cleveland  by  stage.  The  last  part  of  that 
journey,  taken  on  a  moonless  night  and  over  the  hor- 
rible roads  for  which  that  regi(ni  is  famous,  was  suf- 
ficient to  test  the  courage  of  a  bride  on  her  first  trip 
west.  And  I  can  bear  witness  that  if  you  do  not 
find  bravery  in  a  young  wife  following  the  husband 
of  her  choice  to  some  new  home  in  the  wild  West, 
especially  when  both  are  animated  by  a  high  moral 
aim,  you  are  not  likely  to  find  it .  anywhere.  I  once 
heard  a  clergyman  say  in  a  lecture:  "Heroism  has 
become  extinct."  I  was  sure  he  could  have  had  little 
acquaintance  with  the  wives  of  home  missionaries. 

Our  next  stopping  place  was  Tallmadge.  I  had 
visited  the  dear  old  home  only  once  since  leaving  it 
seven  years  before.  That  was  in  the  fall  of  1825.  At 
that  time  the  first  cabin,  rendered  more  comfort- 
able by  the  addition  of  a  single  log  room,  still  re- 
mained. I  now  found,  greatly  to  my  satisfaction, 
that  the  log  cabin  was  no  more.  A  small  adjacent 
tract  of  land  had  been  purchased  on  which  was  a 
frame  house,  affording  some  degree  of  comfort  and 
convenience.  It  was  a  great  pleasure  that  I  had  been 
able  to  meet  part  of  the  expense  of  this  purchase. 
The  reader  need  not  be  told  that  there  was  a  joyful 
meeting.     All  felt  how  empty  I  had  gone  out,  and  how 


WESTWARD  HO!  147 

loaded  with  the  gifts  of  God  I  had  returned.  I  had 
received  a  great  deal  more  than  I  had  exi^ected  or 
sought.  God  had  answered  our  prayers  in  enabling 
me  to  prepare  myself  for  future  service  to  His  cause; 
but  He  had  given  me  personal  prosj^erity  and  hojDes  of 
happiness  even  in  this  life.  Of  this  I  had  no  dream; 
it  had  in  no  way  entered  into  my  thought. 

I  found  many  changes.  My  brother  Ephraim, 
had  in  the  fall  of  1837  accepted  a  tutorship  in  the 
then  newly  established  Western  Reserve  College  at 
Hudson,  Ohio.  From  this  position  he  retired  after 
one  year,  married,  and  became  principal  of  the  Tall- 
madge  Academy.  Our  friend  Wright  had  also  ac- 
cepted the  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural  philoso- 
phy at  Hudson,  and  was  already  married.  How  hap- 
l)ily  and  rapidly  the  three  or  four  weeks  at  Tall- 
madge  jDassed,  reviving  old  acquaintances  and  friend- 
shix^s  and  revisiting  the  scenes  of  my  early  youth. 
That  place  was  as  dear  to  me  as  it  could  have  been 
had  I  never  known  a  New  England  home.  It 
would  have  been  a  great  delight,  had  the  call  of  duty 
permitted,  to  have  made  the  Western  Eeserve  my 
home  and  the  field  of  my  life  work. 

When  our  time  was  expired  we  again  bade  adieu 
to  the  loved  ones  at  home.  Alas !  it  was  my  final 
adieu  for  this  world  to  my  beloved  mother.  We 
were  driven  by  my  father  to  Wellsville  on  the  Ohio, 
where  we  hoped  to  find  a  steamboat  bound  down  the 
ri  ver.  But  no  boats  were  running  and  we  were 
obliged  to  take  the  stage  for  Wheeling.  Here  we 
embarked  in  a  j^oor  craft,  the  best  to  be  had  in  the 
low  water  of  autumn.  The  Ohio,  at  that  time,  lay 
low  down   between   its   high   and   heavily   timbered 


148  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

banks,  with  only  here  and  there  an  insignificant  vil- 
lage on  its  shores.  We  waited  a  few  hours  at  the 
landing  in  Cincinnati,  then  the  growing  metropolis 
of  the  West,  and  claiming  a  population  of  twentyfive 
thousand.  At  Louisville  we  were  obliged  to  change 
boats,  and  there  we  spent  the  Sabbath. 

We  were  rejoiced  to  find  a  steamboat  advertised  to 
leave  for  St.  Louis  at  nine  o'clock  Tuesday  morning 
From  our  hotel  to  the  landing  was  more  than  two 
miles,  and  an  early  start  seemed  necessary  lest,  miss- 
ing that  boat  we  should  have  to  wait  long  for  another. 
I  hurried  my  dressing,  hurried  my  wife,  hurried 
breakfast,  and  hurried  the  hackman,  all  the  time  won- 
dering at  the  coolness  of  those  around  us.  Little  I 
knew  of  the  ways  of  the  western  steamboats.  We 
found  the  boat  with  no  steam  up  and  no  signs  of 
speedy  departure.  And  there  she  remained,  as  my 
friend  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson  once  said,  "Lying  all  day." 
Night  was  upon  the  river  before  we  were  off.  After 
considerable  experience  I  confess  that  traveling  on 
rivers  in  low  water  is  a  very  serious  discipline, 
Sand=bars  occur  in  most  unexpected  places,  and  once 
aground  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  when  you  can  pro- 
ceed. Sometimes  the  captain  seems  waiting  for  a 
rainfall  to  raise  the  stream. 

At  length,  having  traversed  nearly  the  whole 
course  of  the  Ohio,  we  reached  the  spot  where  Cairo 
now  stands  and  began  to  feel  the  stronger  current  of 
the  Father  of  Waters.  Just  at  that  moment  our 
captain,  standing  on  the  bridge  of  the  boat  and  iDoint- 
ing  down  the  Mississippi,  cried  out,  "  There  is  the 
high-road  to  New   Orleans."     The   thought   thrilled 


WESrWAIiD  HOI  149 

me,  for  with  that  great  river  system  I  felt  that  the 
experiences  of  the  rest  of  my  life  were  to  be  identi- 
fied. In  our  long  journey  by  water  there  was  little 
scenery  of  particular  interest.  At  what  is  called  the 
"  Grand  Tower,"  where  the  Mississippi  breaks  through 
the  Ozark  mountains,  the  scenery  becomes  for  a  short 
distance  romantic  and  impressive.  At  that  point  the 
river  bluffs  rise  from  the  water's  edge  on  both  sides, 
and  the  tower  is  a  rock= island  rising  peri^endicularly 
from  the  stream  as  high  as  the  adjacent  bluffs.  Geo- 
logicall}'  speaking,  the  sx3ot  is  of  great  interest. 

An  incident  of  the  voyage  illustrates  the  disadvan- 
tage I  experienced  in  those  days  from  my  youthful 
aj)pearance.  Soon  after  taking  passage  on  one  of  the 
boats  I  was  met  on  the  deck  by  a  youth  apparently 
not  more  than  seventeen  years  old,  who  ajiproached 
me  very  confidentially  with  the  remark,  '"  We  shall 
have  to  keep  very  straight;  there  is  a  minister  on 
board."  By  "'  the  minister,"  he  must  have  meant  my 
friend  Mr.  Baldwin,  who  was  our  traveling  compan- 
ion. Later  in  the  voyage,  when  we  had  religious  ser- 
vices on  board,  he  must  have  been  surprised  to  find 
that  it  was  I  who  preached. 

Steamboat  traveling  in  those  days  was  very  slow. 
Sometimes  our  speed  did  not  exceed  two  and  a  half 
or  three  miles  an  hour.  Before  we  reached  St.  Louis, 
another  Sabbath  had  passed.  At  last  with  great  joy 
we  found  ourselves  safely  landed  in  that  city;  for  we 
had  begun  to  realize  a  danger  of  which  we  had  not 
thought  when  we  planned  our  journey — the  danger 
that  winter  might  render  navigation  very  slow  and 
very  dangerous,  or  even  suspend  it  altogether.    Be- 


150  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

sides,  we  were  glad  to  think  that  we  were  now  only 
one  hundred  miles,  as  the  roads  ran,  from  our  future 
home. 

Our  reception  in  St.  Louis  deeply  afPected  us.  We 
had  been  expected  by  good  Christian  friends,  and 
were  received  not  as  strangers,  but  as  loved  kindred 
"  of  the  household  of  faith."  We  were  hospitably 
entertained  as  guests,  and  received  courteous  atten- 
tion from  Rev.  Wm.  S.  Potts,  pastor  of  the  only 
Presbyterian  church  in  the  city,  and  from  other  ex- 
cellent Christian  families.  We  were  already  being 
welcomed  to  our  new  home,  which  no  longer  seemed 
far  off  among  strangers,  I  long  ago  ceased  to  won- 
der that  the  New  Testament  so  strongly  insists  on 
the  duty  of  Christian  hospitality.  Its  value  to  early 
evangelical  work  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  is 
beyond  computation. 

It  was  no  easy  matter  to  accomplish  the  little  rem- 
nant of  our  journey.  Jacksonville  is  only  about 
twenty  miles  from  the  Illinois  river,  but  as  yet  that 
stream  was  navigated  only  by  an  occasional  steam- 
boat, and  it  was  not  probable  that  another  would 
make  the  voyage  before  spring.  There  was  no  stage 
line,  the  weekly  mail  being  carried  on  horseback. 
The  only  feasible  plan  was  expensive.  We  must 
hire  a  team  and  driver  to  convey  us.  That  problem 
was  made  comparatively  easy  by  an  unexpected  meet- 
ing with  Mr.  James  G.  Edwards,  a  gentleman  from 
Boston  who  was  on  his  way  to  Jacksonville  with  his 
wife  and  her  sister  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a 
newspaper.  We  made  their  acquaintance  by  some 
accident  which  I  have  now  forgotten.  They  were 
Christian  people  and  had  been  attracted  to  Jackson- 


WESTWARD  HO!  151 

ville  by  a  knowledge  of  the  very  movements  of  which 
we  were  a  part.  Such  meetings,  stranger  than  fiction, 
have  not  been  unusual  when  immigration  was  con- 
centrating at  some  point  in  the  West. 

Mr.  Baldwin  wished  to  procure  a  horse  and  leave 
St.  Louis  fully  equipped  for  his  missionary  work. 
He  always  "  meant  business."  We  hired  a  hack 
which  would  carry  four  persons,  in  which  the  three 
ladies  accompanied  by  myself  were  to  proceed  to 
Jacksonville.  Mr.  Baldwin  and  Mr.  Edwards  remained 
behind  until  the  former  could  purchase  a  horse. 
With  this  and  a  wagon  which  Mr.  Baldwin  was  to 
return  to  St.  Louis  while  on  some  early  missionary 
tour,  they  followed  us  to  Jacksonville.  For  many 
years  afterward  that  excellent  riding  horse,  lean  and 
raw-boned,  but  hardy  and  easy-going,  was  almost  as 
much  identified  with  home  missions  as  its  rider. 
Never  were  master  and  horse  more  perfectly  fitted  to 
each  other. 

On  Thursday  of  the  week  after  our  arrival  in  St. 
Louis  I  crossed  the  Mississippi  about  midday  with 
two  ladies  fresh  from  their  native  Boston  and  my 
wife, — all  utter  strangers  to  frontier  life.  I  expected 
to  be  amused  by  some  things  which  they  might  con- 
sider serious.  Our  driver  informed  us  that  we  were 
to  stoj)  for  the  first  night  at  widow  Gillam's,  a  most 
comfortable  place  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississipj)i, 
directly  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri.  The 
great  river  has  since  then  so  encroached  upon  the 
bank  that  the  widow's  farm  and  the  site  of  the  house 
where  we  spent  the  night  are  now  in  the  middle  of 
the  stream.  It  proved  as  our  driver  had  said  an  ex- 
cellent place  in  some  respects.     There  was  plenty  of 


152  JULIAN  M.  STUUTEVAKf 

clean  wholesome  food,  but  on  asking  for  two  rooms  I 
was  told,  as  thono-li  I  had  made  a  strange  and  unrea- 
sonable request,  that  they  could  give  ns  Imt  one 
room  for  the  party.  This  was  decidedly  a  new  and 
trying  experience  to  the  ladies.  Nor  did  the  dancing 
flames  in  a  great  open  fire  place  that  rendered  our 
room  so  light  and  comfortable  on  that  chilly  night 
greatly  increase  their  satisfaction.  But  the  food  was 
acceptable,  the  beds  were  clean,  and  the  linen  was  as 
white  as  could  be  found  in  our  own  homes. 

The  next  morning  we  started  early  and  took  break- 
fast at  Alton,  now  Upper  Alton.  The  j^resent  city 
was  not  then  in  existence.  The  scanty  breakfast  was 
hardly  a  fair  specimen  of  what  might  be  expected  in 
a  frontier  log  house  of  entertainment,  but  the  bill 
was  very  moderate.  Our  journey  lay  through  thinly 
scattered  white  oak  forests  and  over  j^rairies  vanish- 
ing in  the  dim  distance  like  the  horizon  at  sea. 
AVith  these  prairies  which  imagination  easily  covered 
with  the  dress  of  spring  and  converted  into  a  beauti- 
ful park,  the  ladies  were  greatly  delighted.  The 
ground  was  covered  with  a  light  and  melting  snow, 
which  made  traveling  slow  and  tedius.  I  longed 
to  ascend  some  mountain  and  view  the  landscape,  but 
the  plain  extended  far  and  wide  in  all  directions.  At 
Hickory  Grove,  where  the  prosperous  city  of  Jersey- 
ville  now  stands,  we  found  a  single  house  and  a  little 
farm.  Our  hotel  for  the  night  was  Squire  Pickett's 
log  house,  now  in  the  heart  of  the  prosperous  village 
of  Kane.  Alas!  what  trouble  my  three  ladies  had 
that  night.  I  confess  that  the  beds  and  board  were  a 
little  too  much  for  me.     An  early  ride  through  the 


WESTWAHD  110 1  ISS 

forest  took  us  to  a  very  comfortable  breakfast  at  Car- 
rolton,  already  a  considerable  village. 

The  ride  into  Jacksonville  was  not  so  easy  as  was 
expected.  Our  way  followed  the  course  of  the  pres- 
ent Chicago,  Alton  &  St.  Louis  Kailway.  Little 
we  knew  of  railroads  then.  We  passed  over  the 
sites  where  now  stand  the  towns  of  Whitehall, 
Roodhouse,  and  Murrayville.  Just  as  the  sun  was 
setting,  our  driver  exclaimed:  "  I  swear  I. seed  a  wolf." 
I  was  doing  my  best  to  quiet  the  frightened  ladies, 
when  suddenly  our  carriage  plunged  into  a  deep  hole, 
from  which  the  driver  and  his  team  were  utterly  una- 
ble to  extricate  it.  It  would  be  impossil)^e  to  pro- 
ceed further  that  night.  It  was  idle  to  blame  our 
driver,  for  the  uidjridged  mud  hole  extended  the  en- 
tire width  of  the  road.  It  was  Saturday  night,  and 
rapidly  growing  dark,  and  Jacksonville  was  seven 
miles  away.  No  house  could  be  seen.  Happily  the 
wolves  were  also  out  of  sight,  although  to  the  excited 
fears  of  the  ladies  they  seemed  to  be  all  around  us. 
Presently  the  bark  of  a  dog  revealed  the  proximity  of 
some  settler's  cabin.  The  driver  soon  found  the 
house,  and  returned  with  the  word  that  the  inhabit- 
ants would  entertain  us  for  the  night.  The  cabin 
proved  to  be  one  that  contained  but  a  single  room,  fin- 
ished in  the  most  primitive  style  of  log  cabin  archi- 
tecture, and  it  was  the  humble  abode  of  a  father  and 
mother  with  several  children,  one  of  them  a  woman 
nearly  grown.  Yet  we  were  kindly  welcomed,  with 
no  sign  of  reluctance.  We  were  very  hungry,  but  a 
few  questions  showed  that  the  resources  of  the  cabin 
were  very  scanty.     They  had  no  bread,  milk,  meat 


154  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

coffee,  tea  or  flour.  A  chicken  was  taken  down  from 
its  roost  in  the  corner  of  the  great  chimney,  and  its 
neck  was  wrung  before  our  eyes.  We  were  sure  it  was 
fresh.  Mrs.  Edwards,  with  that  rare  tact  which  is  a 
fine  substitute  for  experience,  came  to  the  rescue. 
Said  she  to  our  hostess:  "  I  know  you  are  tired,  let  me 
get  the  supper."  She  dressed  the  chicken,  and  in  the 
one  cooking  dish  jarepared  first  the  chicken,  then  the 
corn  bread,  and  then  tlie  sage  tea.  The  table  was  a 
rough  plank  swung  up  by  the  side  of  the  wall.  An 
iron  spoon  containing  lard  and  cotton  rags  for  a  wick 
with  its  handle  stuck  in  a  crack  between  the  logs,  af- 
forded light.  My  wife  and  I  had  between  us  one 
spoon  and  one  fork.  The  Boston  ladies  had  a  sin- 
gle knife  and  a  fork.  A  neighbor  dropped  in  while 
we  were  at  sujoper,  and  humorously  alluded  to  our  ex- 
cellent appetites.     Such  is  life  on  the  frontier. 

After  supper,  the  moon  having  risen  and  now  shin- 
ing as  brightly  upon  us  as  over  ancient  cities  and 
marble  palaces,  the  driver  summoned  all  hands  to 
extricate  the  carriage  from  the  mud.  By  the  help  of 
our  host  and  his  good-natured  neighbor  this  was 
soon  done.  In  one  corner  of  the  room  was  what 
passed  for  a  bedstead.  The  hostess  having  learned 
by  a  whispered  question  addressed  to  Mrs.  Edwards 
that  I  was  a  minister,  announced  that  the  preacher 
and  his  lady  should  have  the  "stead."  The  rest  of 
the  company,  including  the  family  of  our  host  and 
the  driver,  were  forced  to  sleej)  on  the  floor.  How 
ardently  the  ladies  wished  themselves  back  at  widow 
Gillam's!  Before  retiring  Mrs.  Edwards,  with  the 
wolves  still  in  her  mind,  secured  from  our  hostess  a 
promise  that  the  door  should  be  fastened.     In  the 


WESTWARD  HO!  155 

morning  it  was  found  to  have  been  made  secure  by 
rolling  a  large  pumpkin  against  it. 

By  daylight  we  were  on  our  way  toward  Jackson- 
ville, and  on  our  arrival  were  driven  at  once  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Ellis,  where  we  had  been  expected  the 
night  before.  The  house,  like  others  around  it,  was 
very  small,  but  the  inmates  of  a  palace  could  not 
have  received  us  with  a  heartier  welcome.  The 
western  words  of  greeting,  "alight!  alight!"  were 
never  more  heartily  uttered.  Soon  the  whole  party 
with  all  their  effects  were  stored  in  the  little  rooms, 
and  very  quickly  we  were  partaking  of  a  hearty 
breakfast  that  seemed  all  the  more  enjoyable  on  ac- 
count of  the  discomforts  of  the  long  journey.  "  Haec 
qnoque  meminesse  juvihat.^''  During  the  repast, 
greatly  to  my  surprise  I  was  informed  that  an  ap- 
pointment had  been  made  for  me  to  preach  that 
morning  in  place  of  Mr.  Ellis,  who  was  still  at  the 
East.  I  must  begin  at  once  the  work  for  which  we 
had  undertaken  this  wearisome  journey,  and  accepted 
a  home  on  the  frontier. 

Kev.  John  M.  Ellis  was  one  of  the  first  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.  He 
came  to  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi  in  1826,  and 
had  labored  mostly  at  Kaskaskia,  an  old  French  town, 
and  then  the  capital  of  the  state.  Perhaps  more  pru- 
dent than  I,  he  had  gone  out  unmarried.  A  French 
Protestant  lady  of  excellent  education,  unaffected 
piety,  and  great  vivacity,  was  the  woman  who  was 
disp)ensing  his  hospitality  that  Sabbath  morning. 
Mrs.  Ellis  was  in  every  way  worthy  of  her  husband, 
and  was  an  excellent  helper  in  his  work.  In  that  lit- 
tie  home  she  opened  a  school  for  young  ladies,  some 


^^<^  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of^  whom  were  her  boarders.  Such  women  accom- 
plished ill  the  frontier  settlements  what  would  have 
been  considered  impossible  elsewhere.  Alas!  how 
soon  her  work  in  this  world  was  to  end! 


CHAPTER  X. 

FEEBLE  BEGINNINGS. 

Jacksonville  was  then  a  village  of  onlj^  two  years' 
growth  from  the  naked  prairie.  We  had  sometimes 
met  those  who  had  seen  it,  and  had  curiously  asked 
Mhat  sort  of  a  place  it  was.  The  almost  invariable 
answer  had  heen:  "It  is  a  beautiful  place."  Evi- 
dently our  informants  did  not  mean  that  a  beautiful 
town  had  actually  been  built  there,  but  that  the  spot 
possessed  exceptional  surroundings.  The  great 
prairie  here  breaks  from  its  usual  monotonous  level 
into  a  variety  of  swelling  hills,  found  nowhere  else  in 
the  state.  In  two  cases  the  hill  tops  were  adorned 
by  very  beautiful  natural  groves,  which  gave  to  the 
region  a  most  unusual  charm. 

On  the  east  side  of  one  of  these  groves,  and  on  a 
crest  one  mile  west  of  the  village  center,  was  the  site 
selected  for  Illinois  College,  and  there  it  stands  to= 
day.  The  village  itself  was  very  unattractive.  The 
people  generally  without  capital,  could  yet  show  few 
signs  of  thrift,  and  good  lumber  was  beyond  the 
reach  of  any  but  the  very  wealthy.  There  was  no 
scarcity  of  timber,  but  it  was  hard  wood,  mostly  oak, 
unfit  for  finishing  lumber.  M(jst  of  the  houses  were 
covered  with  boards  split  from  oak  logs  four  feet  in 
length,  and  nailed  on  without  shaving.  Many  roofs 
were  covered  in  the  same  way.  Small  houses  and 
many  log  cabins  were  built  in  hope  that  better   lum- 

157 


158  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ber  would  soon  be  accessible.  The  census  of  1830 
gave  Jacksonville  a  population  of  a  little  over  600. 
This  was  the  little  town  that  we  saw  in  its  somber 
autumn  robes  on  that  Sabbath  morning,  November 
15,  1829. 

When  breakfast  and  family  worship  were  over  it 
was  time  for  church.  Neither  the  ladies  nor  the 
minister  needed  a  change  of  garments.  A  hasty 
toilet  was  entirely  siifficient.  My  young  wife  was 
never  more  beautiful  than  in  the  traveling  hat  and 
habit  in  which  she  had  met  me  at  the  nuptial  altar 
and  she  wore  these  that  morning.  Mrs.  Ellis  took 
her  baby  boy,  about  a  year  old,  wn-apxjed  warmly,  and 
led  the  way,  the  rest  following  as  best  they  could 
over  the  soft  ground  from  which  the  snow  had  lately 
melted.  There  were  no  sidewalks  in  those  days. 
She  ran,  rather  than  walked,  the  entire  distance,  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  though  picking  her  way  like 
ourselves  to  avoid  the  mud,  and  we  kept  her  in  sight 
only  by  stepping  briskly.  I  carried  my  Bible,  hynin^ 
book  and  manuscrij)t  sermon. 

The  church  was  a  room  about  eighteen  or  twenty 
feet  square,  built  of  unhewn  logs,  the  floor  being 
made  of  split  logs  called  "  puncheons,"  with  the  split 
side  U13.  There  was  no  pulpit  and  no  special  place 
for  the  preacher.  He  must  sit  where  he  could,  and 
lay  his  books  either  in  his  lap  or  at  his  side.  The 
seats  were  a  little  ruder  than  I  have  ever  since  seen 
in  a  jjublic  f)lace.  "  Horses,"  like  those  used  by  me- 
chanics to  support  staging,  but  of  a  suitable  height 
for  a  seat,  were  placed  in  rows  across  the  room,  and 
on  these  were  laid  common  split  fence  rails,  ujDon 
which  the  congregation  were  seated.     Yet  these   un- 


FEEBLE  BEGINNINGS  159 

comfortable  sittings  were  filled  by  serious  and  atten- 
tive people,  and  some  were  compelled  to  stand  about 
the  open  door.  Indeed  I  am  convinced  that  every- 
thing about  this  worshiping  assembly  was  better  than 
the  sermon.  I  did  "  shock  the  prejudices  of  a  west- 
tern  audience  "  by  a  very  full  sight  of  a  manuscript, 
not  because  I  desired  to  do  so  but  because  I  could 
not  help  it. 

I  stood  before  that  congregation,  rising  just  where 
I  happened  to  be  seated  and  read  from  a  manuscript. 
I  could  see  from  their  countenances  that  many  of 
them  were  thinking,  "  I  wonder  if  that  young  man 
calls  that  preaching."  No  disrespect  however  was 
shown  and  no  criticism  of  my  effort  ever  reached  my 
ears.  It  was  not  necessary.  I  was  sufficiently  dis- 
satisfied. The  congregation  being  dismissed,  a  few 
friends  gathered  around  us  and  we  began  our  ac- 
quaintance with  our  neighbors.  Dr.  Hector  G.  Tay- 
lor and  his  wife  invited  us  to  dine,  with  them,  and 
their  hospitable  house  proved  to  be  our  home  for  the 
winter. 

I  had  been  anxious  lest  the  hard  external  features 
of  our  new  life  should  distress  my  young  wife.  I 
was  surprised  to  find  her  less  disturbed  than  myself. 
She  had  expected  to  encounter  the  rudeness  of  the 
frontier,  and  was  prepared  to  meet  whatever  it  might 
bring.  She  never  uttered  any  lamentations,  or  in  my 
sight  shed  any  tears.  She  was  cheerful  and  spright- 
ly and  often  made  herself  merry  over  the  oddities 
which  we  encountered,  though  she  was  careful  never 
to  wound  the  feelings  of  others  by  an  untimely  dis- 
l^lay  of  amusement.  I,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
greatly  distressed.     I  had  expected  the  rough   exter- 


160  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ior,  but  had  not  realized  my  own  unfitness  for  the 
new  situation.  The  manuscript  sermon  and  the 
problem  of  preaching  in  such  a  community  caused 
me  great  perplexity  and  distress.  Mr.  Ellis  would 
be  absent  yet  for  several  weeks,  and  I  was  expected 
to  supply  his  pulpit  and  render  other  pastoral  servi- 
ces till  his  return.  As  I  had  little  else  on  my  hands, 
this  gave  me  time  to  wrestle  with  the  problem.  I 
tried  preaching  from  manuscript  once  more,  but  with 
increasing  disgust.  I  then  began  to  commit  my  ser- 
mons to  memory,  and  finding  after  a  few  trials  that 
I  could  do  that  ^with  great  ease,  I  followed  that 
method  for  some  time  with  considerable  satisfaction. 
But  the  relief  was  temporary.  The  question  how  I 
should  preach  soon  returned,  and  for  months,  and 
even  for  years,  it  occasioned  me  much  anxiety. 

But  the  most  distressing  and  perplexing  isroblem 
which  confronted  me  in  my  new  field  was  the  discord 
which  prevailed  among  Christians.  I  wish  to  speak 
with  all  charity  of  the  men  who  are  gone,  and  of  the 
churches  which,  modified  not  a  little  by  the  broader 
views  of  our  times,  still  remain.  But  I  shall  no 
doubt  do  the  best  service  to  the  truth  by  relating 
events  just  as  I  saw  them.  Those  were  crude  times, 
and  the  introduction  of  New  England  ideas  of  educa- 
tion and  theology  in  a  community  largely  southern 
in  its  opinions  and  prejudices,  and  accustomed  to  an 
uneducated  ministry,  could  not  have  been  accom- 
X^lished  without  some  pretty  sharp  conflicts.  There 
was,  however,  one  special  cause  of  alienation  and 
discord  which  was  and  is  a  great  evil  in  Christendom. 
In  Illinois  I  met  for  the  first  time  a  divided  Chris- 
tian community,  and  was  plunged  without  warning 


FEEBLE  BEGINNINGS  161 

or  preparation  into  a  sea  of  sectarian  rivalries  which 
was  kejDt  in  constant  agitation,  not  only  by  real  dif- 
ferences of  opinion,  but  by  ill  judged  discussions  and 
unfortunate  personalities  among  amijitious  men. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  the  only  congre- 
gations sustaining  regular  Sabbath  services  in  Jack- 
sonville were  the  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  Epis- 
copal. The  Methodists,  who  were  far  the  more 
numerous,  worshiped  in  a  large  private  house.  The 
third  Sabbath  after  my  arrival  the  Presbyterians 
expected  to  use  the  court  house  instead  of  the  school- 
house  then  undergoing  repairs.  The  Methodists 
generally  occupied  the  court  house  for  their  quar- 
terly meetings.  Hence  there  arose  a  collision  of 
appointments  for  which  no  one  in  particular  was  to 
blame.  On  Sabbath  morning  I  found  the  court  room 
in  which  I  expected  to  j)reach  already  occupied  by 
the  celebrated  Peter  Cartwright  and  a  large  congre- 
gation of  Methodists.  Of  course  I  had  no  alternative 
but  to  take  my  seat  with  the  congregation  and  join  in 
the  worship.  As  it  was  a  quarterly  meeting  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  to  be  observed  after  the  discourse. 
Under  such  circumstances  one  would  naturally  have 
expected  a  tender  evangelical  sermon,  full  of  those 
truths  which  commend  themselves  to  every  Christian 
heart.  Judge  my  astonishment  at  hearing  instead  a 
bitter  attack  upon  Calvinism,  or  rather  a  caricature  of 
that  system,  held  up  now  to  the  ridicule  and  then  to 
the  indignation  of  the  hearers.  It  must  have  been 
known  that  there  were  many  Presbyterians  present. 
Mr.  Cartwright  could  hardly  have  been  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  the  man  who  had  come  here  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  a  college  was  one  of  his  congregation, 


IG2  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

and  yet  he  took  particular  pains  to  ridicule  collegiate 
education,  repeating  the  alread}^  stale  and  vulgar 
saying:  "I  have  never  spent  four  years  in  rubbing 
my  back  against  the  walls  of  a  college."  Mr.  Cart- 
wright  himself  must  have  greatly  changed  his  views 
when,  thirty  years  later,  he  accepted  with  apparent 
satisfaction  the  title  of  D.  D.  and  was  generally 
called  Dr.  Cartwright. 

I  left  the  court  house  at  the  close  of  the  service 
with  many  sad  thoughts.  Is  it  true,  I  asked  myself, 
that  in  the  field  where  my  life  is  to  be  spent  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  a  house  divided  against  itself? 
Am  I  to  find  the  bitterest  enemies  of  my  work  in  a 
separate  caraj)  of  the  Lord's  i^rofessed  followers? 
Here  where  ignorance  is  so  prevalent  am  I  to  find 
eminent  ministers  of  the  Gospel  disparaging  and 
ridiculing  my  humble  efforts  in  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation? 

The  same  somber  religious  aspects  presented  them- 
selves wherever  I  turned  my  eyes.  The  community 
was  ^perpetually  agitated  by  sectarian  prejudices  and 
rivalries.  It  was  deemed  wise  to  omit  our  service  on 
a  certain  Sabbath  for  the  accommodation  of  a  few 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  families  who  desired  to 
hear  a  minister  of  their  own  order.  Of  course  I  was 
in  the  congregation.  The  speaker  was  not  "apt  to 
teach."  He  was  without  even  average  intelligence  or 
culture,  and  commenced  his  sermon  with  much  hesi- 
tation and  evident  uncertainty.  After  s^Deaking 
fifteen  minutes,  without  any  trace  of  connected 
thought,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  perceive,  certainly 
with  no  distinct  propositions,  he  suddenly  began  to 
rant.     His  words  were  spoken  so  rapidly  and  in  so 


FEEBLE  BEGINNINGS  163 

high  a  key  that  few  could  be  iindevstood.  Nothing 
seemed  clear  but  the  frequent  repetition  of  cant 
words  and  phrases  void  of  connection,  all  accompa- 
nied by  a  vehemence  of  tone  and  gesture  that  aston- 
ished and  distressed  me.  He  suddenly  ceased,  an- 
nounced a  hymn,  prayed  and  dismissed  the  congrega- 
tion. The  house  being  densely  filled  and  the  air 
stiffling  it  was  an  inexpressible  relief  to  escape  into 
the  open  air.  To  my  amazement  I  was  assured  on 
the  way  home  by  a  lady  of  our  own  congregation, 
from  whom  I  had  hoped  for  better  things,  that  we 
had  heard  a  most  excellent  sermon.  My  cup  was 
full!  Was  this  woman  a  fair  tyj)e  of  the  people 
among  whom  my  future  life  was  to  be  spent?  Was 
sect  so  strong  that  in  order  to  prevent  our  commu- 
nity from  being  further  divided  religiously  we  must 
listen  on  Sabbath  morning  to  such  a  shower  of 
emptiness  and  stupidity?  These  were  queries,  how- 
ever, to  be  communicated  only  to  the  one  who  could 
perfectly  sympathize  with  me. 

No  words  can  express  the  shock  which  my  mind 
experienced.  The  transition  from  those  harmonious 
and  united  Christian  communities  in  which  my  life 
had  hitherto  been  passed,  to  this  realm  of  confusion 
and  religious  anarchy  was  almost  overpowering.  Is 
this,  I  asked  myself,  the  proper  relation  of  Christ's 
disciples  to  each  other?  As  large  a  proportion  of  the 
l^eople  around  me  in  Jacksonville  were  members  of 
Christian  evangelical  churches  as  in  the  other  com- 
munities in  which  I  lived;  but  here  every  man's  hand 
was  against  his  brother.  The  possibility  of  Christian 
co=operation  was  absolutely  limited  to  these  little 
cliques  into  which  the  body  of  Christ  was  divided. 


164  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

For  the  first  time  I  was  forming  an  acquaintance 
with  the  Church  under  the  influence  of  sectarian  prej- 
udices. And  now  after  fifty  years  I  still  feel  that  I 
did  not  attach  too  much  importance  to  the  manifes- 
tations of  divided  sentiment  among  Christians  around 
me,  or  overestimate  the  evil  tendencies  of  sectarian 
divisions.  This  condition  of  the  Church  was  not  tem- 
IDorary  or  local.  In  all  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
during  the  infancy  of  society,  when  moral  forces 
were  weakest,  and  when  the  bonds  which  held  civil- 
ized society  together  were  subject  to  the  greatest 
strain  through  immigration,  the  conservative  power  of 
the  Christian  religion  was  greatly  enfeebled  by  just 
such  sectarian  conflicts  as  those  I  witnessed  in  Cen- 
tral Illinois. 

Even  at  this  day,  though  the  aspects  of  denomina- 
tionalism  have  been  greatly  modified,  and  though  the 
courtesies  of  Christian  life  are  far  better  observed 
and  the  external  relations  of  the  different  sects  are 
far  more  fraternal,  it  is  true,  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago, 
that  different  denominations  exhibit  too  much  of  the 
spirit  of  rivalry  and  too  little  of  the  spirit  of  co-ope- 
ration for  the  upbuilding  of  God's  Kingdom  in  this 
world.  It  is  even  now  impossible  to  secure  the  fel- 
lowship) of  all  the  religious  people  of  Illinois  in  any 
work  of  faith  and  charity,  however  obviously  impor- 
tant to  the  general  welfare.  The  opinions  then 
formed  of  the  tendencies  and  the  inevitable  results  of 
the  sect  system  have  been  constantly  confirmed. 

During  all  these  experiences  my  friend  and  fellow^ 
laborer,  Mr.  Baldwin,  had  been  absent  at  Vandalia, 
then  the  capital  of  the  state,  having  chosen  that  as 
his  field  of  labor,  and  I  had  been  left  to  navigate  the 


FEEBLE  BEGIXNIXGS  165 

tnmultuous  seas  as  best  I  could,  alone.  He  came  to 
Jacksonville  in  December  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the 
western  subscribers  to  the  college,  called  to  elect 
three  trustees  according  to  the  jjlan  before  agreed 
upon.  I  was  greatly  encouraged  and  helloed  by  his 
wise  and  sympathetic  counsels.  At  this  meeting  a 
resolution  was  passed  (certainly  without  any  consul- 
tation with  me)  bestowing  upon  the  institution  the 
name  of  Illinois  College.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  held  immediately  after  the  election 
mentioned  above  it  was  ordered  that  the  institution 
be  opened  for  the  reception  of  students  on  Monday, 
January  4, 1830,  and  that  I  should  take  entire  charge. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PROGRESS. 

As  soon  as  jDossible  after  it  was  known  that  the 
association  of  young  men  in  Yale  College  would  co* 
oj)erate  in  founding  an  institution  of  learning,  the 
erection  of  a  small  two  story  brick  building  had  been 
commenced  on  the  beautiful  site  chosen  for  the  col- 
lege. That  building  was  far  from  comx)letion  on 
Monday,  the  4th  of  January,  1830,  but  one  large  room 
was  ready  for  use.  In  it  I  found  on  that  morning 
nine  pupils  assembled  for  instruction.  It  was  the 
day  of  small  things,  but  its  insx)iration  was  drawn 
from  faith  in  God  and  the  future.  After  reading 
from  the  Bible  I  briefly  addressed  the  young  men. 
The  very  sjjirit  of  our  enterprise  was  expressed  in  my 
first  sentence.  "  We  are  here  to=day  to  open  a  foun- 
tain where  future  generations  may  drink."  I  then 
offered  prayer  committing  the  whole  enterprise  for 
the  present  and  the  long  future  to  the  care  and  pro- 
tection of  God. 

Three  or  four  of  the  pupils  had  already  made  some 
progress  in  the  acquisition  of  the  Latin  language,  and 
were  looking  forward  to  a  collegiate  education  and  to 
the  Christian  ministry.  One  or  two  more  manifested 
a  desire  to  commence  classical  study.  The  rest 
wished  to  pursue  rudimentary  branches  only.  Of 
the  thirty  or  forty  students  received  during  the  first 
year,  very  few  had  plans  beyond  a  limited  English 

166 


OUR  PROGRESS  167 

education.  This  was  not  surprising,  for  there  was 
then  no  school  in  the  state  at  which  a  youth  could 
have  prepared  for  college.  We  had  no  public  school 
system.  The  few  log  schoolhouses  found  in  those 
portions  of  the  state  where  settlements  had  been  com- 
menced had  been  built  as  cheaxoly  as  possible  by  a 
few  neighbors  at  their  own  expense.  They  were  ex- 
pected to  serve  only  a  temporary  purpose.  Any  man 
who  found  himself  out  of  employment  felt  at  liberty 
to  seek  the  neighborhood  of  an  unoccux^ied  school- 
house,  circulate  his  prospectus,  and  obtain  subscrip- 
tions for  a  three  or  four  months'  school.  If  the 
X^ledges  were  satisfactory  he  oxDened  his  school  and 
conducted  it  in  his  own  way.  No  board  of  education 
interfered  with  him.  He  was  a  law  unto  himself. 
In  most  cases  the  ijarents  had  absolutely  no  guaran- 
tee for  his  moral  character  or  his  fitness  to  teach. 
The  state  had  a  school  fund,  the  interest  of  which 
was  distributed  to  such  schools  as  complied  with  the 
conditions  of  the  statute.  There  were,  however,  no 
l^rovisions  for  permanent  school  districts.  Of  course, 
under  these  circumstances,  we  could  not  reasonably 
expect  to  receive  from  the  community  around  us 
l^upils  who  had  made  any  considerable  progress  in 
study.  In  two  or  three  years  the  increased  reputa- 
tion of  the  college  began  to  attract  young  men  more 
or  less  advanced  in  classical  study,  who  wished  to 
acquire  a  collegiate  education. 

I  now  found  myself  leading  a  very  busy  life.  From 
nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  four  in  the  after- 
noon I  was  steadily  employed  at  the  institution, 
which  was  a  mile  from  my  boarding  place. 

My  time  out  of  school  was  fully  occupied  in  caring 


168  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANf 

for  the  general  interests  of  the  college  and  in  conduct- 
ing its  correspondence.  After  Rev.  Mr.  Ellis  returned 
I  became  Superintendent  of  his  Sabbath-school,  and 
devoted  much  of  my  time  to  its  interests,  for  Mr. 
Ellis  kept  himself  and  all  his  co=workers  busy.  I 
was  frequently  invited  to  preach  for  him,  and  having 
no  time  to  commit  my  sermons  to  memory  my  old 
troubles  returned.  I  was  certainly  in  no  danger  of 
"  shocking  my  audience  by  the  sight  of  a  manuscript, " 
for  I  had  no  time  to  prepare  one.  I  must  either  i^reach 
unwritten  sermons  or  not  preach  at  all.  Making  the 
best  preparation  I  could,  I  would  go  before  the  au- 
dience with  an  abstract  of  the  sermon  I  intended  to 
deliver,  but  invariably  with  the  same  result.  I  was 
mortified  and  often  disgusted  because  I  had  not 
carried  out  the  intended  line  of  thought.  Many 
unguarded  expressions  painful  to  remember  had  been 
uttered,  and  my  discourse  seemed  to  me  to  have  been 
rambling  and  illogical.  After  every  such  effort  I 
felt  I  could  never  again  speak  extemporaneously.  I 
seemed  to  be  losing  the  power  of  close  and  logical 
thinking.  Apparently  others  did  not  so  judge,  for  I 
was  constantly  importuned  to  preach.  After  resist- 
ing as  long  as  possible  I  invariably  consented  to  try 
again,  with  the  same  result  as  before. 

After  a  time  I  w^as  invited  to  occupy  each  Sabbath 
afternoon  with  an  expository  lecture  on  the  Sunday- 
school  lesson.  In  this  I  found  great  benefit  and  re- 
lief. The  intimate  association  between  the  words  of 
the  text  and  the  comments  I  proposed  to  make  held 
me  to  the  intended  line  of  thought,  and  I  retired  at 
the  close  of  each  address  with  some  degree  of  satis- 
faction.    In  these  expository  discourses  I  learned  to 


OUR  PROGRESS  169 

"think  on  my  legs."  If  my  experience  is  worth  any- 
thing, expository  preaching,  with  thorough  prepara- 
tion and  a  faithful  adherence  to  the  spirit  and  mean- 
ing of  the  sacred  text,  furnishes  the  best  training  for 
the  extemporaneous  preacher. 

Other  grave  and  unexpected  questions  began  to 
arrest  my  attention.  When  I  received  my  commission 
from  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  strange 
as  it  may  seem  I  had  absolutely  no  opinions  about 
church  government.  I  wished  to  form  none,  for  I 
entertained  almost  contempt  for  the  whole  subject. 
Dr.  Taylor's  very  able  lectures  in  respect  to  it  did  not 
produce  the  slightest  impression  on  my  mind.  I  felt 
that  I  must  attend  to  weightier  matters,-  such  as 
preaching  the  Gospel,  and  leave  the  tithing  of  mint 
and  anise  and  cummin  to  those  who  had  more  faith 
in  such  things.  I  could  not  live  in  Jacksonville 
in  the  midst  of  such  scenes  of  religious  conflict  with- 
out seeing  my  mistake.  Did  Jesus  intend  that  His 
followers  should  live  in  such  unhappy  relations  with 
each  other?  The  whole  subject  of  church  organiza- 
tion and  church  government  became  invested  with 
the  highest  religious  importance. 

When  I  was  ordained  by  a  Congregational  council  I 
supposed,  as  did  all  my  fathers  in  the  ministry,  that 
on  reaching  my  field  of  labor  and  presenting  my 
certificate  of  ordination  I  should  be  immediately 
received  into  the  Presbyterian  Church.  At  my  ordi- 
nation it  was  not  asked  whether  1  accepted  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  faith,  nor 
are  candidates  for  Congregational  ordination  now 
asked  that  question.  The  simple  truth  is  that  at 
that   time   I   had   never   read   that  confession.     My 


170  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

parents  who  taught  me  the  Shorter  Catechism  did  not 
treat  it  as  infallible,  and  gave  their  own  reasons  for 
objecting  to  some  of  its  doctrines.  They  regarded 
the  Word  of  God  as  the  only  standard  of  orthodoxy. 
They  were  no  theologians;  but  if  the  Westminster 
Confession  had  been  placed  before  them  they  would 
certainly  have  exercised  their  right  of  private  judg- 
ment in  discussing  it,  as  freely  as  they  did  in  respect 
to  the  Shorter  Catechism  or  a  published  sermon. 

I  had  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  study  that  confes- 
sion before  presenting  myself  for  admission  to  the 
Presbytery.  At  a  very  early  day,  however,  curiosity 
led  me  to  examine  a  copy  which  accidentally  fell  into 
my  hands.  In  the  form  of  church  government  accom- 
panying the  Confession  I  found  substantially  the  fol- 
lowing questions  j)roposed  to  all  candidates  for  ordi- 
nation either  as  ministers  or  elders:  "Do  you  accept 
the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Catechisms  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  as  containing  the  system  of  doc- 
trine taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures?"  "  Do  you  ap- 
prove of  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States?" 

Assuming  that  these  questions  would  be  propound- 
ed to  me  whenever  I  should  apply  for  admission,  I 
felt  comiDelled  to  examine  that  Confession  of  Faith 
and  prepare  myself  to  answer  the  "constitutional 
questions"  intelligently.  I  had  not  pursued  the  sub- 
ject far  before  it  became  evident  that  I  could  not 
answer  in  the  affirmative  without  violating  my  con- 
science. Mr.  Ellis,  who  was  my  trusted  counselor, 
bade  me  fear  not,  as  those  questions  were  never  pro- 
pounded to  ministers  coming  with  clean  papers  from 


OUR  PROGRESS  171 

Congregational  bodies.  He  also  said  that  no  person 
was  expected  to  make  those  affirmations  in  such  a  sense 
as  to  imi^ly  his  belief  in  every  jaroposition  contained 
in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Catechism.  They 
were  to  be  accepted  only  "for  substance  of  doctrine." 
This  statement  was  not  altogether  novel,  but  to  this 
day  it  has  never  given  me  any  satisfaction.  It  has 
always  seemed  to  me  an  indefensible  violation  of  good 
faith  for  a  man  formally  to  accept  a  doctrinal  state- 
ment which  he  can  only  make  his  own  by  doing  vio- 
lence to  the  obvious  meaning  of  some  of  its  phrases. 

The  declaration  that  I  receive  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith  as  "containing  the  system  of  doc- 
trine taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  "  is  literally  un- 
true. That  some  of  the  doctrines  taught  in  the 
Scriptures,  perhaps  most  of  them,  are  contained  in 
that  confession,  would  be  readily  admitted;  but  cer- 
tainly all  of  them  are  not.  For  example,  the  doctrine 
that  under  all  conditions  God  will  as  surely  forgive 
a  penitent  sinner  as  a  loving  father  will  receive  a 
penitent  prodigal  son,  is  most  clearly  taught  in  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  Luke.  Certainly  this  truth  is  not 
recognized  in  the  Confession,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  not 
has  been  for  ages  a  source  of  controversy,  perplexity 
and  confusion.  I  was,  however,  relieved  for  the  time 
by  the  information  that  I  .should  not  be  called  upon 
to  assent  to  "the  constitutional  C[uestions." 

The  reader  must  not  infer  from  the  space  here  given 
to  ecclesiastical  cpiestions  that  my  chief  energies  at 
that  time  were  expended  upon  them.  Far  from  it. 
Those  questions  were  intimately  connected  with  my 
work,  and  suggested  great  practical  problems  which 


172  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

called  on  every  lover  of  God  and  .men  for  a  solution. 
But  I  had  no  time  for  connected  study  and  reading 
upon  such  themes. 

My  chief  energies  must  be  given  to  the  school.  I 
sought  not  only  to  secure  satisfactory  progress  in  those 
branches  which  my  jjupils  were  pursuing,  but  to  ex- 
cite their  curiosity  and  inspire  them  with  the  love  of 
knowledge.  I  spent  considerable  time  in  making 
choice  selections  from  English  literature,  which  I  read 
to  my  XDupils,  thus  cultivating  their  literary  tastes  and 
filling  their  minds  with  noble  thoughts  and  stimulat- 
ing imagery.  It  seemed  to  be  an  excellent  method 
with  pupils  such  as  mine  were.  The  circumstances 
were  not  very  inspiring  to  my  own  mind,  but  my  zeal 
for  the  enterprise  called  out  my  best  efforts.  The 
Saturday  holiday  was  generally  fully  occupied  in  pre- 
paring for  the  Sabbath.  Meanwhile  we  were  busily 
planning  for  the  completion  of  our  building,  for 
which  we  felt  great  need.  This  was  accomx^lished  in 
the  early  spring.  One  day  I  showed  my  wife  a  vacant 
house  of  hewn  logs  which  occupied  the  very  spot 
where  now  stands  the  principal  building  of  Illinois 
College,  and  suggested  to  her  that  the  serious  incon- 
venience of  our  present  narrow  quarters  and  of  living 
so  far  from  my  work  might  possibly  be  avoided  by 
repairing  the  old  house  and  making  it  our  temporary 
home.  The  whole  asj^ect  of  the  f)lace  was  most  re- 
pulsive, and  I  did  not  wonder  that  for  the  first  time 
she  met  a  suggestion  of  hardship  with  a  burst  of 
tears.  But  she  soon  recovered  her  composure  and 
agreed  with  me  that  we  should  really  be  more  com- 
fortable by  making  the  change.  We  made  such  im- 
provements as  were  practicable,  and  about  the  middle 


OUR  PROGRESS  173 

of  March  began  housekeeping  on  College  Hill.  Our 
home  was  very  humble,  but  very  happy,  and  neither 
of  us  have  ever  had  an  earthly  home  far  from  that 
spot. 

In  the  same  month  of  March  the  Presbytery  of  Illi- 
nois, then  attached  to  the  Synod  of  Missouri  and  in- 
cluding all  the  Presbyterians  in  Illinois,  met  at 
Si^ringfield.  I  could  not  leave  my  work,  and  Mr. 
Ellis  suggested  that  I  should  send  my  letter  and  make 
application  for  admission.  I  doubted  the  proj^riety 
of  becoming  a  minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
without  having  given  assent  to  the  constitutional 
questions  prescribed  by  that  body  to  all  her  officials. 
My  friends  and  associates  whose  theological  views 
did  not  differ  from  my  own  felt  no  such  difficulty.  I 
must  either  enter  by  that  door  or  quit  the  field  and 
relinquish  my  enterprise.  Finally  their  view  pre- 
vailed with  me.  I  sent  my  letter  and  became  a 
Presbyterian  minister.  In  May  of  the  same  year  the 
General  Assembly  passed  a  regulation  that  ministers 
coming  from  Congregational  bodies  should  in  future 
assent  to  the  constitutional  questions.  So  quickly 
was  the  door  closed  by  which  I  had  entered. 

In  our  April  vacation  I  visited  my  friend,  Mr. 
Baldwin,  at  Vandalia,  about  eighty  miles  distant. 
Leaving  Jacksonville  after  dinner  on  a  little  Canadian 
pony,  I  passed  few  human  habitations  until  I  reached 
a  log  cabin  at  the  head  of  Apple  Creek,  twenty  miles 
from  home,  where  I  spent  the  night.  It  was  a  ''hard 
place  "  then,  but  is  now  the  flourishing  and  beautiful 
town  of  Waverly.  The  next  morning  a  ride  of  twenty 
miles  over  an  utterly  uninhabited  jorairie  took  me  to 
the  head  of  Macoupin  Creek,  where  I  paused  to  re- 


174  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

fresh  myself  and  the  pony.  About  twenty  miles  more 
over  another  perfectly  wild  i)rairie  brought  me  to 
Hillsboro.  In  the  middle  of  that  plain  a  drenching 
shower  accompanied  by  a  high  wind  struck  us  directly 
in  the  face  and  my  pony  in  spite  of  all  my  efforts  turned 
his  head  away  from  the  storm,  and  refused  to  proceed 
until  the  gale  had  subsided.  At  the  close  of  the  short 
temj)est  I  rode  on  to  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Tillson. 
He,  with  his  beautiful  and  excellent  wife,  Christiana 
Tillson,  have  ever  since  held  their  places  among  my 
choicest  friends.  In  that  beautiful  home  the  hum- 
blest missionary  was  sure  to  find  himself  surrounded 
by  all  that  is  charming  in  Christian  civilization.  Of- 
ten since  then  their  walls  have  sheltered  me  and  their 
greeting  has  cheered  me. 

The  next  morning  I  pursued  my  journey  twenty 
miles  further  to  Vandalia,  where  nearly  a  week  was 
spent  with  Mr.  Baldwin  discussing  plans  for  the  fu- 
ture. He  was  boarding  in  the  hospitable  family  of 
Hon.  James  Hall,  afterward  a  resident  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  well  known  for  his  graceful  and  si^irited 
contributions  to  periodical  literature. 

Returning,  I  generally  followed  my  former  route, 
but  leaving  Apple  Creek  cabin  in  the  gray  morning 
and  following  the  directions  of  my  host  I  swept  away 
over  the  trackless  prairie,  around  the  head  of  Apple 
Creek  and  the  Mauvaisterre  and  found  no  timber  until 
I  crossed  the  last  named  creek,  a  mile  east  of  Jackson- 
ville. Far  out  upon  the  prairie  that  morning  I  dis- 
covered at  no  great  distance  a  large  brown  wolf  of  the 
most  dangerous  character.  He,  however,  made  ofp 
without  showing  any  disposition  to  attack  me.     Re- 


OUR  PROGRESS  175 

turning  from  such  a  journey  I  found  my  house  of  logs 
a  very  delightful  home. 

In  the  summer  term  following,  the  school  had  so 
greatly  increased  in  numbers  and  in  the  variety  of 
studies  pursued  that  I  gladly  accepted  the  offer  of  a 
young  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Stone,  then  spending 
the  season  at  Jacksonville  to  assist  me.  He  was  an 
excellent  scholar  and  an  amiable  and  interesting  asso- 
ciate. 

June  came  bright  and  joyous  to  all  the  world,  and  no- 
where more  so  than  on  College  Hill.  On  the  7th  a  dar- 
ling boy  came  to  our  arms  and  hearts,  but  with  him  came 
great  anxiety  and  apprehension.  The  season  was  ex- 
ceptionally stormy  and  the  frequent  showers  were 
accomj)anied  by  high  winds  that  drove  the  rain  into 
the  crevices  between  the  logs,  and  drenched  the  interi- 
or until  the  water  ran  down  upon  the  floor.  My  wife 
took  cold,  and  had  a  feverish  attack,  followed  by  pro- 
tracted complications  which  rendered  her  illness  long 
and  critical.  I  was  inexperienced  in  the  care  of  the 
sick,  and  felt  by  no  means  competent  to  minister  to 
the  wants  of  my  wife  and  child.  Under  those  trying 
circumstances  I  know  not  M'liat  we  should  have  done 
had  it  not  been  for  the  kindly  assistance  of  Mrs.  Ed- 
wards, of  whom  I  have  i)reviously  spoken,  and  Mrs. 
Lock  wood,  wife  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Lock  wood  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  state.  A  sister  or  a  mother 
could  not  have  been  more  sympathizing  or  assiduous. 
Through  the  watchful  care  of  these  friends,  and  the 
kindness  of  a  gracious  Providence,  health  came  at  last 
to  mother  and  son  and  our  home  was  again   full  of 

joy- 


176  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Justice  and  afPection  demand  that  more  should  be 
said  of  Judge  and  Mrs.  Lockwood.  They  came  to 
make  Jacksonville  their  home  almost  immediately 
after  our  arrival.  It  was  through  the  kind  offices  of 
Judge  Lockwood  that  the  college  obtained  the  beautiful 
site  on  which  it  now  stands.  He  had  contemplated 
building  his  own  house  on  that  spot,  but  made  it  a 
free  gift  to  the  college  on  condition  that  the  institu- 
tion should  be  located  there.  His  name  deserves 
most  honorable  mention,  and  among  the  faithful,  per- 
sistent, and  efficient  benefactors  of  Illinois  College. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  whom  Mr.  Ellis  communi- 
cated his  project  for  an  institution  of  learning. 
When  Mr.  Ellis  i^roposed  to  make  a  tour  of  observa- 
tion through  the  counties  of  Greene,  Morgan  and 
Sangamon,  then  lying  on  the  northern  frontier  of  the 
peox)led  j)ortion  of  the  state  and  beginning  to  be  rap- 
idly occupied  by  settlers,  Judge  Lockwood  proposed 
that  his  clerk,  Thomas  Lippincott,  afterwards  an 
efficient  and  beloved  minister  of  the  Gospel,  should 
accompany  him  and  furnished  a  horse  and  all  the 
funds  necessary  for  the  expedition.  This  tour  proved 
to  be  of  great  importance  to  our  future.  Many  pat- 
riotic and  Christian  men  became  thereby  acquainted 
with  the  project  and  greatly  assisted  the  undertak- 
ing. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1830  much  cor- 
respondence took  place  between  the  trustees  already 
residing  in  Illinois  and  those  who  were  still  at  New 
Haven,  in  relation  to  the  selection  of  a  president  for 
the  institution.  In  the  autumn  Kev.  Edward  Beecher, 
then  pastor  of  Park  Street  church  in  Boston,  was 
elected  to,  and  accepted,  that  position.    I  already  knew 


OUR  PROGRESS  177 

him  well  and  had  great  confidence  in  him,  and  my 
heart  rejoiced  that  the  leading  responsibility  of  the 
institution  was  soon  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  a  man 
so  competent,  so  strong  and  so  devoted. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  DEEP  SNOW. 

It  was  to  be  yet  a  year  and  a  half  before  Mr.  Beeclier 
would  enter  upon  the  work  of  in.struction.  He,  how- 
ever, visited  us  in  December,  I80O,  for  the  purpose  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  the  situation  of  the  enter- 
prise and  its  needs,  and  to  qualify  himself  to  speak  and 
act  for  it  in  the  eastern  and  middle  states.  Almost 
immediately  after  his  arrival  he  was  summoned  to 
Vandalia,  where  the  legislature  was  in  session  and  ef- 
forts were  in  progress  to  obtain  a  charter  for  Illinois 
College.  The  opportmiity  of  meeting  the  lawmakers 
of  the  state  and  learning  their  views  in  that  early  day 
was  not  lost,  but  after  weeks  of  trial  the  bill  was  de- 
feated and  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  charter  postponed 
to  a  time  in  the  indefinite  future.  The  prejudices 
that  defeated  it  were  so  absurd  that  we  can  hardly 
realize  the  i^otent  influence  they  then  possessed.  The 
most  prominent  argument  was  the  alleged  discovery 
that  Presbyterians  were  planning  to  gain  undue  in- 
fluence in  our  politics,  and  were  proposing  to  control 
the  government  of  the  state  in  the  interest  of  Presby- 
terianism.  There  were  only  a  few  hundred  Presby- 
terians at  that  time  in  the  entire  state. 

Mr.  Beecher  did  not  remain  at  Vandalia  till  the  end 
of  the  conflict,  but  returned  during  the  Christmas 
holidays  to  Jacksonville.  Simultaneausly  with  the 
commencement  of  his  journey  occurred  the  historic 

178 


THE  DEEP  SyOW  179 

"deep snow,"  and  he  found  himself  weather = bound  at 
Hillsboro,  but  at  the  hospitable  home  of  our  dear 
friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tillson.  There  he  met  Mr. 
Charles  Holmes,  a  noble  friend  and  benefactor  of  Ill- 
inois College.  He  was  an  unmarried  brother  of 
Mrs.  Tillson,  and  resided  at  Quincy.  He  was  very 
anxious  to  return  home  at  once,  by  way  of  Jackson- 
ville, but  such  a  journey  now  seemed  impossible. 
Snow  covered  the  entire  country  to  the  depth  of  at 
least  three  feet  on  the  level.  The  storm  ended  in 
rain,  which  freezing  as  it  fell  formed  a  coat  of  ice  not 
quite  strong  enough  to  bear  a  man's  weight.  On  the 
top  of  this  there  fell  a  few  inches  of  fine  snow,  as 
light  as  ashes.  When  the  storm  ceased  and  the  bright 
sun  beamed  down  upon  the  landscape  a  fierce  north- 
west wind  arose,  and  for  weeks  swept  over  the  prai- 
ries, filling  the  air  with  drifting  snow  so  blinding  and 
choking  in  its  effect  that  it  seemed  impossible  for  a 
man  to  make  headway  against  it.  It  was  not  like  a 
storm  among  the  hills  of  New  England,  where  the 
light  snow  is  presently  dejiosited  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  wind.  In  this  level  country,  with  no  forests  and 
no  fences,  there  were  no  sheltered  spots,  and  the 
drifting  continued  till  the  surface  was  softened  by 
the  sun,  or  till  the  wind  ceased.  Both  Mr.  Beecher 
and  Mr.  Holmes  were  accustomed  to  the  stern  winters 
of  Xew  England.  The  former  was  reared  on  Litch- 
field Hill  in  my  own  native  county.  They  were  not 
very  likely  to  be  frightened  by  a  snow  storm.  Mr. 
Holmes  owned  a  powerful  horse,  and  harnessing  him 
to  a  temporary  sleigh  constructed  by  the  joint  inge- 
nuity of  the  two  gentlemen,  they  undertook  and 
accomplished  the  perilous  task  of  crossing  the  forty= 


180  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

mile  prairie  tbroiigli  that  body  of  snow  and  in  the 
face  of  the  blizzard. 

On  arriving  Mr.  Beecher  found  us  contending  with 
the  effects  of  the  storm  upon  our  rude^  inadequate 
log  house.  The  blast  had  forced  the  drifting  snow 
through  every  crevice  and  rendered  the  house  utterly 
untenantable.  We  were  obliged  to  take  shelter  for 
the  remainder  of  the  winter  in  some  of  the  new  and 
imperfectly  finished  rooms  of  the  college  building. 
Mr.  Beecher  also  occupied  one  of  the  rooms  and 
remained  with  us  till  March,  aiding  in  the  work  of 
instruction  whenever  his  assistance  was  necessary. 
One  whose  life  had  been  silent  in  southern  New  Eng- 
land can  form  little  conception  of  such  a  winter.  It 
was  impossible  to  break  out  snow  paths  in  the  New 
England  fashion.  On  driving  a  team  through  the 
snow  the  track  behind  it  would  be  almost  immediately 
obliterated  by  the  wind.  From  College  Hill  to  the 
village  a  path  was  at  last  obtained  only  by  driving  in 
the  same  track  until  the  snow  was  rounded  up  like  a 
turnpike.  The  newness  of  the  country  greatly 
increased  the  hardships  of  that  winter.  Our  fuel  was 
yet  in  the  forest,  and  even  much  of  our  food  supj)ly 
remained  still  in  the  fields  covered  by  the  deep  snow. 
The  j)opulation  around  us  was  almost  wholly  from 
the  south  and  had  no  conception  of  such  a  winter. 
They  were  well  nigh  paralyzed  by  the  task  imposed 
upon  them. 

No  morning  dawned  upon  us  for  many  days  when 
the  thermometer  registered  less  than  twelve  degrees 
below  zero.  For  three  weeks  it  scarcely  thawed  even 
on  the  sunny  side  of  the  house.  The  biting  wind  was 
incessant.     Had  our  railroads  then  been  in  existence 


THE  DEEP  SNOW  181 

I  fear  they  would  have  proved  for  the  time  useless 
The  deep  cuts  would  have  filled  with  drifts,  and  even 
modern  api3liances  could  hardly  have  kept  them  open. 
For  nine  weeks  this  snow  covered  the  gTound  for  liun 
dreds  of  miles  in  every  direction.  What  a  welcome 
visitor  was  returning  sj)ring. 

As  soon  as  traveling  became  practicable  Mr. 
Beecher  returned  to  the  East,  taking  with  him  Mr. 
Baldwin,  for  the  i)urpose  of  raising  as  large  a  sum  as 
possible  for  the  college.  For  several  years  we  were 
almost  entirely  dependent  for  our  resources  upon 
friends  at  a  distance.  The  early  settlers  of  this 
entire  region  were  poor.  Wealthy  emigrants  from  the 
south  crossed  the  "  Free  State,"  as  Illinois  was  then 
somewhat  contemptuously  called,  and  located  in  Mis- 
souri where  they  could  retain  their  human  chattels. 
Those  who  had  no  slaves  preferred  to  settle  in  Illi- 
nois where  their  labor  would  not  be  degraded  by  the 
companionshiiD  of  the  enslaved  negro.  From  these 
settlers  little  help  could  be  exiDected  in  the  erection 
and  the  equipment  of  a  college.  Furthermore,  sectar- 
ian divisions  would  have  been  effectual  in  depriving 
us  of  helj)  from  our  own  community,  had  the  people 
been  far  more  wealthy.  The  Presbyterians,  from 
whom  alone  we  could  exiDCct  co=operation,  were  but 
a  feeble  band.  The  first  of  these  obstacles  time  raj)- 
idly  removed,  but  the  second  still  hinders  the  union 
of  the  entire  community  in  college  building. 

Spring  came,  and  with  it  a  great  sorrow.  Our  dar- 
ling boy  suddenly  sickened  and  died  in  our  arms  after 
an  illness  of  but  a  few  hours.  Xothing  remained  for 
us  but  to  tenderly  bury  his  loved  form  in  a  grave  sur- 
rounded  by  a  little  wooden  enclosure   on   the   lone 


182  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

prairie,  and  go  on  with  our  work.  My  wife's  heart 
was  almost  broken.  She  never  recovered  the  full 
buoyancy  of  her  spirits,  though  several  years  of 
happy  married  life  still  remained  to  us. 

By  this  time  we  were  beginning  to  feel  the  early 
vibrations  of  that  religious  earthquake  which  a  few 
years  later  divided  the  Presbyterian  Church  into  two 
rival  bodies  of  nearly  equal  strength.  That  agitation 
from  its  commencement  exerted  a  disastrous  influ- 
ence upon  our  community.  One  of  the  principal 
causes  of  alienation  was  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
controversy  about  Taylorism,  or  the  New  Haven  The- 
ology. The  Presbyterian  Church  west  and  south, 
was  composed  of  two  classes  of  x^eople  sej)arated  by 
very  marked  characteristics.  One  class  was  of  New 
England  origin.  It  had  been  to  a  great  extent 
brought  into  the  Presbyterian  Church  under  the  plan 
of  union  between  Congregationalists  and  Presbyter- 
ians, negotiated  between  the  General  Assembly  and 
the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  near  the  be- 
ginning of  the  present  century.  The  other  class  was 
largely  of  Scotch  origin,  and  adhered  very  closely  to 
the  church  of  John  Knox  and  the  original  from 
which  it  was  copied,  the  church  of  John  Calvin. 
These  Presbyterians  had  never  been  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  "iDlan  of  union,"  and  regarded  religious 
ideas  imported  from  New  England  with  i^eculiar  dis- 
trust. This  suspicion  had  been  greatly  intensified  by 
the  controversy  then  in  progress  in  New  England. 
It  was  perceived  that  the  newly  awakened  zeal  of  the 
East  for  home  evangelization  was  rapidly  swelling 
the  numbers  and  increasing  the  influence  of  the  New 
England  party.     Active  efforts  were  made  to  arrest 


THE  DEEP  SNOW  183 

the  progress  of  these  ideas  and  to  strengthen  the 
bands  of  ecclesiasticism  against  their  encroachment 
njjon  tlie  Church. 

The  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  with 
headquarters  in  New  York  City,  represented  in  a 
measure  the  movement  from  New  England.  The 
advocates  of  a  stronger  ecclesiasticism  carried  on 
their  home  missionary  operations  through  the  Assem- 
bly's Board  of  Missions  which  had  its  seat  in  Phila- 
delphia. These  two  missionary  organizations,  though 
both  endorsed  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  w^ere  soon 
brought  into  sharp  rivalry.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  Assembly's  board  sharply  watched  those  who 
were  commissioned  by  the  Home  Missionary  Society, 
and  in  certain  instances  made  strenuous  efforts  to 
abridge  their  influence.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that 
what  was  transpiring  at  Jacksonville  was  regarded 
with  suspicion  at  Philadelphia. 

The  brethren  misjudged  us.  We  were  not  propa- 
gandists of  Taylorism  or  of  anything  else  save  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  We  were  not  seeking  to  gain  an 
influence  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Our  only  pur- 
pose was  to  do  an  earnest  and  honest  work  in  laying- 
foundations  for  the  kingdom  of  God.  Most  of  us  had 
then  no  thought  of  ever  organizing  Congregational 
churches  in  Illinois.  We  had  no  fear  that  Presby- 
terians would  oppose  such  plans  as  ours.  On  the 
contrary  we  took  it  for  granted  that  we  should  have 
their  sympathy  and  help. 

Rev.  Wm.  J.  Frazer,  who  was  sent  from  Philadel- 
phia to  a  pastorate  near  us,  assumed  the  duty  of 
watching  us  and  counteracting  our  errors.  He 
proved  to  be  a  very  unscrupulous  man,  as  was  shown 


184  JULIAN  M.  STUETEVANT 

by  his  being,  a  few  years  later,  deposed  from  the 
ministry.  Is  it  not  wonderful  how  great  an  influence 
for  evil  a  coarse,  bad  man  can  exert,  when  he  plays 
upon  ecclesiastical  passions  and  prejudices?  We 
immediately  felt  a  disturbing  element  in  our  com- 
munity. He  influenced  a  few  students,  and  induced 
them  to  bring  evil  reports  against  us  and  to  misrep- 
resent our  actions  and  teachings.  All  this  was  im- 
mediately reported  at  Philadelphia.  There  were  in 
the  state  Presbyterian  ministers,  some  of  whom  were 
men  of  influence  and  popular  power,  who  encouraged 
him  in  his  efforts  to  suppress  "  heresy."  Party  lines 
were  drawn,  and  Jacksonville  became  the  bone  of 
contention.  Our  ecclesiastical  jiosition  became  ex- 
ceedingly galling  and  uncomfortable,  and  our  good 
work  was  sadly  hindered. 

In  the  summer  of  1831  I  began  to  find  relief  from 
my  troubles  about  iDreaching  topical  sermons  without 
a  manuscrii^t.  That  summer  Mr.  Ellis  had  obtained 
the  assistance  of  some  of  the  neighboring  ministers 
in  holding  a  few  daily  meetings.  One  afternoon  he 
came  to  me  saying  that  a  sermon  must  be  preached 
on  a  certain  topic,  and  that  the  other  clergymen  con- 
curred in  the  request  that  I  should  deliver  it.  I 
earnestly  begged  to  be  excused.  I  could  not  bear  to 
read  the  carefully  written  discourse  I  had  on  the  sub- 
ject. Abstracts  had  invariably  failed  to  help  me.  If 
I  looked  at  my  outline  I  lacked  the  sympathy  of  my 
audience,  and  soon  became  confused.  If  I  kept  my 
eye  on  my  audience  and  neglected  my  abstract,  I 
wandered  from  my  subject.  Finally  I  determined  to 
try  one  more  experiment.  I  prepared  a  brief  abstract 
and  left  my  manuscript  at  home.     In  that  effort  I 


THE  DEEP  SS'O  \V  18S 

somehow  discovered  the  art  of  preaching  from  notes. 
To  my  great  relief  I  found  that  I  could  construct  an 
outline  that  would  perfectly  represent  to  my  mind  a 
topical  sermon  and  guide  me  in  its  delivery.  I  after- 
wards found  that  I  could  by  a  little  study  recall  the 
suggestions  of  an  outline  and  preach  from  it  sub- 
stantially the  same  sermon  I  had  delivered 
months  or  even  years  before.  From  that  time  I 
think  that  my  discourses  from  carefully  prei^ared  ab- 
stracts were  more  logical  than  those  I  had  previously 
written.  I  once  heard  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox  speaking 
to  the  theological  students  at  Andover,  and  answering 
the  objection  that  unwritten  sermons  are  apt  to  be 
verbose  and  illogical,  exclaim  with  a  most  characteris- 
tic intonation:  "The  Lord  deliver  us  from  extem- 
poraneous written  sermons  ! "     Amen  ! 

After  that,  it  was  my  rule  to  accept,  unless  j)re- 
vented  by  other  engagements,  all  invitations  to 
preach.  My  seemingly  insurmountable  problem  was 
solved,  and  I  have  preached  much  without  interfering 
in  the  least  with  my  duties  as  an  instructor.  If  I 
had  plenty  of  time  for  preparation  I  improved  it.  If 
I  had  less  it  was  still  possible  to  make  the  most  of  it, 
and  trusting  to  the  stimulus  of  the  truth,  the 
l)resence  of  an  audience  and  the  promised  help  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  preach  as  best  I  could. 

My  enlargement  as  a  preacher  had,  however,  an- 
other cause  which  ought  to  be  mentioned.  During 
these  years  the  method  of  my  religious  thinking  was 
undergoing  a  very  important  change.  At  first  I 
viewed  religious  questions  chiefly  from  the  theological 
standpoint.  I  was  trying  to  j)reacli  the  theology 
learned  at  school.     I  soon  began  to  see  that  the  tech- 


186  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

nical  dress  of  thought  is  not  that  which  is  best  fitted 
to  influence  the  majority  of  listeners.  If  we  would 
convince  the  j)eoj)le  we  must  present  the  truth  not 
in  the  abstract,  but  in  those  concrete  forms  through 
which  the  intercourse  of  the  world  is  chiefly  carried 
on.  I  remember  having  said  to  my  wife  at  dinner, 
in  the  early  days  of  our  married  life,  when  she  and  I 
comfjosed  the  entire  dinner  party,  '"  One  thing  I  am 
resolved  to  do  in  preaching,  whatever  else  I  may  fail 
in;  I  will  translate  whatever  religious  ideas  I  possess 
from  the  technical  terms  of  the  schools  into  the  pop- 
ular language  of  everyday  life." 

During  all  these  months,  in  spite  of  bitter  and 
groundless  attacks,  the  school  made  steady  progress 
in  the  number  and  quality  of  its  pupils.  In  our  im- 
mediate vicinity  the  number  who  sympathized  with 
Mr.  Frazer  constantly  diminished.  Our  unaggressive 
efforts  to  found  a  college  and  to  preach  the  simple 
gosj)el  of  repentance  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  gave  little  advantage  to  our  enemies  where  we 
were  known.  Of  course  we  could  not  i^revent  injury 
being  done  to  the  good  cause  by  one  who  was  cajja- 
ble  of  sowing  the  seeds  of  suspicion  and  distrust 
among  those  who  were  in  a  large  measure  ignorant  of 
us  and  of  our  work.  No  doubt  these  misrepresenta- 
tions did  considerable  harm,  and  aided  in  driving  the 
wedge  that  finally  produced  a  division  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church. 

It  seems  my  duty  to  record  another  incident  that 
strikingly  illustrates  the  condition  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  around  us,  although  I  am  not  certain  of  the 
year  of  its  occurrence.  The  anniversaries  of  certain 
religious  societies  in  which  Presbyterians  co=operated 


THE  DEEP  SNOW  187 

.  were  held  in  Vandalia  in  December,  and  duriui^  the 
sessions  of  the  Suiireme  Court  and  the  Legislature. 
Many  leading  ministers  of  this  denomination  partici- 
pated. On  the  occasion  in  question  the  delegates 
had  been  invited  to  a  dinner  jjarty  just  outside  the 
city  limits.  While  walking  thither  an  able  and  re- 
spected defender  of  strict  ecclesiasticism  surprised 
me  by  saying  in  the  hearing  of  others:  "  Brother 
Sturtevant,  I  have  a  ijroposition  to  make  by  which  it 
seems  to  me  we  can  all  work  together  in  harmony. 
It  is  that  you  and  your  friends  should  co=oj)erate  with 
us  through  the  Assembly's  Board  of  Missions  in 
drawing  the  pastors  of  our  churches  and  our  home 
missionaries  as  far  as  may  be  from  the  west  and 
south,  and  in  return,  we  will  co-operate  with  your 
college."  The  x^roposition  shocked  me  exceedingly. 
I  felt  it  to  be  a  personal  insult  to  suppose  me  capable 
of  entertaining  it  for  a  moment.  I  replied  in  sub- 
stance that  if  our  college  were  good  and  worthy  he 
could  not  afford  to  opj)ose  it;  if  it  were  bad  and  un- 
worthy its  character  and  influence  would  not  be  im- 
proved by  the  agreement  which  he  proposed.  Of 
course,  the  chasm  between  us  was  widened.  Was  it 
my  fault?  I  knew  not  how  to  conciliate  men  who 
a.sked  and  expected  me  to  act  on  such  jirincixjles. 

Such  experiences  convinced  me  that  the  Presby- 
terian Church  was  then  composed  of  incongruous  and 
incomx^atible  elements  which  could  not  co  exist 
under  such  a  constitution  without  unceasing  strife. 
I  found  it  impossible  in  the  midst  of  such  conflict- 
ing elements  to  live  a  life  of  tranquil  consecration  to 
my  work.  Our  efforts  to  build  up  an  institution  of 
learning  were  greatly  obstructed  and  embarrassed.     I 


188  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

felt  that  freedom  from  my  ecclesiastical  connection 
would  be  far  preferable  to  the  relations  in  which  we 
stood.  My  friends,  Beecher  and  Baldwin,  recognized 
with  me  the  great  disadvantages  of  onr  position,  but 
advised  patient  waiting  for  the  relief  that  was  sure  to 
come  in  the  disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
Mr.  Beecher  once  ventured  the  remark  that  we  could 
construct  from  the  fragment  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  then  known  as  "  New  Schoor'  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal system  far  better  than  either  Presbyterianism  or 
the  Congregationalism  of  New  England.  I  urged 
that  no  change  in  the  organization  of  either  branch 
was  likely  to  follow  their  separation,  as  then  each 
party  would  be  more  zealous  than  ever  in  its  adher- 
ence to  the  old  constitution,  and  since  each  wtnild  be 
anxious  to  be  considered  the  true  Presbyterian 
Church.  Perhaps  no  immediate  deliverence  from 
our  troubles  was  at  that  time  j)ossible.  Being  the 
youngest  of  our  fraternity,  I  could  only  submit  to  the 
policy  of  bearing  "the  ills  we  have"  in  hope  of 
providential  deliverance  in  the  near  future. 

I  cannot  leave  this  painful  subject  without  pointing 
out  one  disastrous  result  of  these  ecclesiastical  and 
sectarian  conflicts  which  continues  to  this  day. 
Public  opinion  in  this  region  was  then  almost  unan- 
imous in  favor  of  intrusting  the  higher  education  to 
institutions  established  and  controlled  by  religious 
people,  rather  than  to  those  founded  and  governed  by 
the  state,  or  by  any  other  political  body.  In  this 
respect,  the  principle  upon  which  our  institution  was 
based  met  almost  universal  approbation.  Had  the 
Christian  j)eople  of  Illinois  then  united  to  sustain  it, 
or  any  other   college   established  on  like  principles, 


THE  DEEP  SNOW  189 

they  could  easilj'  have  given  it  so  much  of  strength 
and  iDublic  confidence  that  it  would  have  been  above 
the  competition  of  all  non  Christian  institutions.  It 
was,  then,  these  ecclesiastical  and  sectarian  rivalries 
which  prevented  the  religious  part  of  the  community 
from  aquiring  a  controlling  influence  on  the  higher 
education.  After  a  time  intelligent  and  patriotic 
men,  seeing  the  denominations  entirely  incapable  of 
uniting  for  a  great  undertaking  and  even  weakened 
by  internal  dissensions,  began  to  despair  of  colleges 
founded  on  the  voluntary  principle,  and  to  turn 
toward  the  state  as  the  only  hojDe  for  great  and  well= 
equipped  seats  of  learning.  We  still  look  to  our 
Christian  colleges  for  an  expression  of  those  moral 
and  religious  convictions  in  which  many  churches 
agree.  It  is  a  great  misfortune  that  an  opportunity 
was  lost  and  faith  in  the  voluntary  princij)le  even 
temf)orarily  weakened.  It  was  these  divisions,  and 
not  any  defect  in  our  religion,  which  left  us  like 
Samson  shorn  of  his  strength. 


CHAPTER  XI 1 1. 

ENLARGEMENTS. 

The  mission  of  Mr.  Beecher  and  Mr.  Baldwin  to 
the  east  in  the  spring  of  1831  for  procuring  an  en- 
largement of  the  resources  of  the  College  was  quite 
succesful.  It  is  probably  impossible  to  ascertain  now 
how  large  an  amount  was  actually  brought  into  the 
college  treasury.  Large  subscriptions  were  obtained 
that  were  to  be  paid  in  annual  installments,  but 
before  the  time  for  payment  arrived  commercial  dis- 
aster overtook  many  of  the  subscribers,  and  our  losses 
in  consequence  were  large.  The  funds  collected 
how^ever,  seemed,  to  justify  the  trustees  in  reorgan- 
izing the  institution  in  the  spring  of  1833  on  a  consid 
erably  enlarged  scale.  The  distinction  between  the 
college  proper  and  the  preparatory  department  was 
clearly  defined.  Four  classes  were  formed,  and  as 
many  departments  of  instruction  were  provided  for. 
The  department  of  Mental,  Morafand  Social  Philoso- 
phy was  assigned  to  President  Beecher;  that  of  Latin 
and  Greek  to  Prof.  Truman  M.  Post,  now  Rev.  Dr. 
Post  of  St.  Louis;  that  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  to 
Prof.  Jonathan  B.  Turner;  and  the  department  of 
Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy  to 
myself. 

In  the  previous  year  a  large  building  had  been  com- 
menced, 104  feet  long,  40  feet  wide,  and  four  stories 
high,  with  a  basement  for  a  boarding  establishment. 

190 


ENLARGEMENTS  191 

It  had  also  two  wings,  each  two  stories  high,  designed 
to  be  occupied  by  President  Beecher  and  myself, 
with  our  families.  The  situation  of  the  college,  a 
full  mile  from  the  village,  rendered  these  additional 
accommodations  a  necessity.  Unfortunately  the 
building  was  jpoorly  planned  and  imperfectly  built. 
Good  material  at  that  time  was  very  scarce,  and  it 
would  have  been  difficult  for  any  one  to  build  well. 
But  I  keenly  felt  that  had  I  jpossessed  more  exper- 
ience it  might  have  been  somewhat  better  than  it  was. 
It  was  not  an  ornament  to  the  beautiful  site,  a  fact 
that  occasioned  much  sorrow  in  after  years.  Every 
room  was  however  speedily  occupied.  As  many 
students  as  could  be  accommodated  within  a  conven- 
ient distance  apjolied  for  admi.ssion,  but  they  were 
very  diverse  in  their  attainments  and  aims.  Far  less 
than  half  were  fitted  to  enter  any  of  the  college  classes 
The  rest  were  provided  for  in  the  preparatory  dej^art- 
ment,  some  ultimately  to  enter  college,  and  others  to 
pursue  the  various  branches  of  a  purely  English 
education.  One  teacher  was  constantly  engaged  in 
this  preparatory  and  miscellaneous  department.  The 
president  and  the  professors  also  bestowed  upon  it, 
in  addition  to  the  onerous  duties  of  their  own  depart- 
ments, much  labor. 

The  instructors  were  all  religious  men,  and 
thus  far  all  of  New  England  birth  and  educa- 
tion. This  would  certainly  have  been  inexpedient 
had  it  not  been  unavoidable.  The  case  reminds 
me  of  a  correspodence  between  the  Rev  John  M. 
Peck,  a  distinguished  and  very  able  Baptist  mission- 
ary in  this  state,  and  myself.  Mr.  Peck  wrote  sug- 
gesting the  possibility  of  the  Baptists   endowing   a 


192  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

department  of  instruction  in  the  college,  provided 
they  could  retain  the  right  to  designate  the  incum- 
bent. I  replied,  warmly  approving  of  his  proposition 
and  added  that  if  the  imcumbent  should  be  a  western 
or  a  southern  man  it  would  be  all  the  better.  Mr. 
Peck  thanked  me  for  the  fraternal  spirit  of  my  letter, 
but  reminded  me  that,  "the  West  and  South  produced 
the  raw  material,  and  were  not  yet  manufacturing 
regions."  That  M^as  exactly  the  condition  of  that 
part  of  the  country,  yet  it  annoyed  many  of  the  people 
around  us  that  all  the  professors  were  "  Yankees." 

It  was  deemed  important  by  all  the  teachers,  that 
some  method  should  be  devised  whereby  the  Sabbath 
should  be  used  by  the  students  as  a  day  of  religious 
instruction  and  culture.  The  young  men  represented 
all  classes,  and  various  religious  opinions,  and  we 
had  no  wish  to  introduce  among  them  influences  of  a 
sectarian  character.  We  earnestly  desired  to  teach 
them  the  great  universal  truths  of  Christian  faith  and 
morality.  I  see  nothing  to  regret  but  much  to  rejoice 
over,  as  I  now  review  the  position  then  assumed  by 
the  instructors  in  relation  to  the  religious  training  of 
our  students.  The  time  will  never  come  when 
teachers  will  not  be  under  sacred  obligations  to  pro- 
vide for  the  moral  and  religious  training  of  their 
pupils.  Religion  and  morality  are  and  ever  must  be 
fundamental  in  the  formation  of  character,  and  can- 
not be  dispensed  with  in  the  formative  period  of  life. 
The  churches  of  the  town  were  so  remote  that  it 
seemed  necessary  to  provide  some  religious  instruction 
in  our  chapel  on  the  Sabbath,  but  the  college  re- 
sources were  inadequate  to  pay  for  the  services  of  a 
special  instructor.      Therefore  Mr.   Beecher   and   I 


EXLARGEMENTS  193 

consented  to  preach  alternately  morning  and  afternoon 
each  Sabbath,  and  for  many  successive  years  this 
arrangement  was  continued.  It  is  delightful  to 
remember  that  the  fraternal  co=operation  of  President 
Beecher  and  myself  in  that  labor  of  love  was  never 
disturbed  by  the  slightest  jar.  Great  blessings  came 
to  the  students  through  those  services.  Many  were 
won  to  Christ  and  a  religious  life,  not  a  few  of  whom 
devoted  themselves  in  the  various  denominations  to 
the  Christian  ministrj'.  Those  labors,  though  severe, 
were  richly  rewarded,  for  in  sx^ite  of  conflict  and  con- 
fusion without,  the  college  was  a  scene  of  tranquil, 
earnest  religious  life. 

The  organization  of  the  Congregational  church  in 
Jacksonville  brought  to  me  some  perplexing  jiroblems. 
As  early  as  1832  it  became  very  apparent  that  I  was 
not  alone  in  my  dissatisfaction  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  its  then  agitated  condition.  It  seemed 
to  lack  the  essentials  of  a  spiritual  home  for  persons 
of  New  England  birth  and  training.  Others  beside 
myself  were  inclined  to  sus^Dect  that  the  agitations 
were  largely  due  to  the  constitution  of  that  church, 
The  controversy  about  the  "  New  Haven  theology '' 
had  originated  in  New  England,  and  might  reasonably 
have  been  exj^ected  to  produce  there  its  most  disaster- 
ous  results.  Yet  it  had  there  expended  its  utmost 
force  without  manifesting  any  tendency  to  disrui)t 
religious  society.  But  as  soon  as  the  agitation  crcssed 
the  Hudson  and  extended  itself  in  the  domain  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  it  began  to  threaten  a  great 
division.  Immigrants  from  New  England  exi^ecting 
to  unite  promptly  with  the  Presbyterian  Church 
hesitated   in   the  presence  of  so  much  strife.     As  I 


194  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

have  already  said,  I  came  to  this  state  with  no  definite 
opinions  about  church  government,  but  the  experience 
of  the  first  three  years  had  compelled  me  to  reflect, 
with  painful  earnestness  and  deep  solicitude,  upon 
the  foundations  of  the  church.  The  more  I  thought 
upon  the  matter  the  more  evident  it  seemed  to  me 
that  the  divided  condition  of  our  religious  community 
was  the  result  of  man's  assumption  of  authority  over 
the  Church,  for  which  the  New  Testament  gave  no 
warrant  whatsoever.  At  first  I  knew  so  little  of  the 
subject  that  I  had  no  idea  whither  these  principles 
might  lead  me.  I  was  so  strongly  repelled  by  all  rig- 
id and  complicated  systems  of  church  government 
that  I  feared  for  a  time  lest  my  new  convictions 
should  ultimately  exclude  me  from  all  existing  forms 
of  church  organization.  I  was  in  a  honor  of  great 
darkness  lest  my  conscience  should  compel  me  to 
stand  alone.  But  words  cannot  express  my  surprise 
and  delight  when  farther  study  showed  me  that  the 
simple  forms  which  seemed  to  me  wholly  Scriptural 
and  practical  were  really  identical  with  those  already 
described  in  the  teachings  of  our  Congregational 
fathers. 

It  was  natural  that  I  should  talk  much  on  this  sub- 
ject with  intimate  friends.  I  saw  Mr.  Baldwin  only 
occasionally,  and  believe  that  at  that  time  he  regarded 
the  matter  as  one  of  little  practical  importance.  But 
in  our  daily  intercourse  Mr.  Beecher  and  myself 
discussed  all  questions  with  the  utmost  freedom.  He 
deemed  the  Congregational  system  of  church  govern- 
ment theoretically  sound,  but  thought  its  introduction 
into  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  at  that  time  impract- 
icable and  undesirable.-   He  told  me  that  he  had  ex- 


ENLARGEMEXTS  195 

pressed  the  opinion  in  New  England  that  independ- 
ency of  the  local  church  was  an  element  of  the 
millennium,  and  that  he  regarded  the  time  not  yet 
ripe  for  its  introduction  among  us.  It  would  occasion 
a  division  in  the  already  feeble  ranks  co  operating 
with  us  which  would  leave  him  utterly  discouraged 
about  the  work  which  he  had  undertaken.  I  keenly 
felt  the  force  of  his  view.  But  neither  of  us  could 
prevent  the  division  which  he  deprecated. 

Some  time  during  that  winter  Eliliu  Wolcott  and 
Dr.  M.  M.  L.  Reed  requested  a  private  interview  with 
Mr.  Beecher  and  myself,  and  we  appointed  an  even- 
ing to  receive  them.  Their  object  was  to  inform  us 
that  thirty  or  forty  residents  of  the  town  had  resolved 
to  organize  a  Congregational  church,  and  to  invite  us 
to  unite  in  the  organization.  Mr.  Beecher  listened  but 
uttered  not  a  word  of  sympathy  with  Congregational- 
ism. He  expressed  his  conviction  that  the  attempt  to 
establish  a  Congregational  church  in  Jacksonville  at 
that  time  would  result  only  in  weakness  and  disaster, 
and  kindly  entreated  them  to  desist  from  their  pur- 
pose. I  assured  the  gentlemen  of  my  growing  attach- 
ment to  the  principles  of  Congregationalism,  and  my 
belief  that  the  time  for  the  organization  of  such  a 
church  in  our  town  was  not  many  years  distant,  yet  I 
joined  with  Mr.  Beecher  in  deprecating  immediate 
action.  It  was  obvious  that  a  sanctuary  in  which  all, 
whether  of  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  affinities, 
might  assemble  for  worship  had  become  an  urgent 
necessity  to  the  Christian  cause.  Subscriptions  were 
already  in  circulation  to  secure  such  a  building,  and 
a  site  had  l)een  selected.  I  earnestly  urged  them  to 
remain  with  the  Presbyterian   church  and  assist  in 


196  JULIAS  M.  STURTEVANT 

meeting  this  great  present  want  of  the  community. 
I  expressed  the  oi^inion  that  the  rajDid  growth  of  the 
church  would  soon  justifj"  the  formation  of  a  second 
church,  which  could  be  made  Congregational,  and 
that  thus  their  purpose  could  be  accomplished  with- 
out serious  loss  to  the  Master's  cause.  I  assured 
them  that  I  would  then  unite  with  them  in  the 
organization.  At  the  close  of  the  interview  they 
again  assured  us  that  their  object  had  not  been  to 
consult  us  with  reference  to  the  propriety  of  the  step 
they  were  about  to  take,  but  to  invite  us  to  go  with 
them,  and  that  the  organization  would  none  the  less 
be  effected  without  us. 

In  reviewing  the  conversation  of  that  evening  in 
the  light  of  the  present,  it  seems  to  me  very  difficult 
to  decide  with  certainty  what  really  was  the  jDath  of 
wisdom.  It  then  seemed  to  me  a  duty  to  define  the 
ground  of  principle  on  which  I  stood.  I  saw,  or 
thought  I  saw,  the  necessity  of  introducing  among 
the  religious  discords  of  that  community  the  Congre- 
gational conception  of  the  church.  I  hold  now  that 
the  more  intense  sectarian  divisions  become,  the 
greater  the  need  of  introducing  that  true  element  of 
order.  My  faith  in  "denominational  comity  in  home 
missions  "  is  not  unlimited.  Denominational  rivalries 
sometimes  reach  a  point  where  Congregationalism 
alone  can  afford  even  temxwrary  relief. 

The  fact  that  Jacksonville  had  more  churches  than 
were  needed  was  no  proof  that  a  Congregational 
church  was  not  an  urgent  necessity.  It  has  seemed 
to  me  ever  since  that  if  all  the  New  Haven  Associa- 
tion could  have  been  induced  to  retrace  their  steps 
and   stand  firmly  on  Congregational  principles,    the 


ENLARGEMENTS  197 

history  of  the  college  and  of  the  great  enterprise  of 
evangelization  with  Mhich  it  was  connected  might 
have  been  more  tranquil  and  more  prosperous.  But 
it  is  unlikely  that  any  human  influence  could  have 
united  us  in  such  a  policy.  Besides,  we  should  have 
lost  the  countenance  and  support  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society,  as  such  a  step  would  have 
shocked  and  utterly  alienated  our  New  England 
friends  and  supporters. 

The  leading  minds  in  the  New  England  churches  at 
that  time  fully  believed  in  the  plan  of  union,  and  ac- 
cepted the  fruits  which  it  was  i)roducing.  They  con- 
sented to  the  limitation  of  Congregationalism  to  New 
England,  and  surrendered  with  little  regret  the  vast 
territory  west  and  south  of  the  Hudson  to  Presby- 
terianism.  They  would  have  rebuked  our  rashness 
and  withdrawn  their  confidence.  It  still  seems  to  me 
that  if  the  brave  band  of  laymen  who  formed  the  Con- 
gregational church  at  Jacksonville  could  have  been 
induced  to  wait  for  a  more  propitious  time  it  would 
have  been  better,  but  on  that  point  I  am  not  positive. 
Perhaps,  since  I  could  not  re^jress  my  convictions  or 
by  any  means  avoid  some  obloquy  from  their  expres- 
sion, it  would  have  been  better  to  have  attached  my- 
self at  once  to  the  unpopular  cause.  Let  the  right- 
eous judge.  The  wide  divergence  of  opinion  on  this 
jjarticular  subject  never  in  the  least  disturbed  the 
kindly  intimacy  between  Mr.  Beecher  and  myself. 
His  position,  however,  gave  great  satisfaction  to  that 
party  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  who  had  hitherto 
cooperated  with  us,  while  my  own  created  a  certain 
measure  of  suspicion  and  distrust. 

It  would  be  difficult  now  for  one  not  familiar  with 


198  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

the  details  of  the  struggle  to  form  any  conception  of 
the  intense  hostility  by  the  New  School  party  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  toward  the  spread  of  Congrega- 
tionalism west  of  the  Hudson.  They  regarded  New 
England  immigration  as  the  chief  means  by  which 
their  numbers  and  injfluence  in  the  church  were  to  be 
augmented  and  considered  the  organization  of  Con- 
gregational churches  a  violation  of  good  faith.  They 
held  that  the  compact  between  the  General  Assembly 
of  ihe  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  General  Associa- 
tion of  Connecticut  was  a  solemn  league  and  covenant 
between  competent  powers,  whereby  New  England 
was  permanently  guaranteed  to  Congregationalism, 
and  the  whole  region  west,  "even  to  the  going  down 
of  the  sun,"  was  consecrated  to  Presbyterianism. 
They  failed  to  see  that  the  subjection  of  Congrega- 
tional churches  or  individuals  to  such  a  compact  made 
by  others  was  a  denial  of  the  fundamental  principle 
upon  which  Congregational  church  government  is 
founded.  Under  these  circumstances  the  position 
which  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  assume  was  exceedingly 
uncomfortable  and  undesirable. 

Events  shortly  occurred  which  tended  to  confirm 
the  Congregationalists  in  their  course,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  enlist  the  public  sympathy  in  behalf  of  the 
professors  in  Illinois  College.  Early  in  the  year 
1833  Mr.  Frazer  manifested  a  determination  to  push 
matters  to  an  extremity.  He  j)referred  before  the 
Presbytery  charges  of  heresy  againt  President  Beech- 
er.  Rev.  Wm.  Kirby,  then  a  teacher  in  Illinois  Col- 
lege, and  myself.  In  the  early  spring  we  were  placed 
on  trial  before  the  Presbytery  assembled  at  Jackson- 
ville.    When  a  trial  for  heresy  was  added  to  all  the 


ENLARGEMENTS  199 

other  elements  of  unrest  then  existing  among  us,  I 
felt  that  I  was  indeed  navigating  a  stormy  sea,  but  I 
did  not  fear  the  result.  I  felt  assured  that  if  Mr. 
Frazer  should  succeed  in  ejecting  us  from  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  New  England  would  sustain  us,  and 
that  our  work  would  be  helped  rather  than  hindered 
by  the  change.  But  the  trial  itself  was  a  great  an- 
noyance to  me.  It  shocked  my  tastes  and  humiliated 
and  disgusted  me.  President  Beecher  was  first  ar- 
raigned. He  listened  to  the  charges,  plead  "Not 
guilty,"  and  in  a  calm,  scholarly,  courteous  and  Chris- 
tian manner,  offered  his  defense. 

As  we  were  walking  home  together  that  evening,  I 
told  the  president  that  his  plea  was  excellent,  but  un- 
der the  circumstances  I  should  pursue  a  somewhat 
different  course;  that  the  community  needed  to  dis- 
cover how  bad  a  man  our  prosecutor  was,  and  that  I 
thought  it  right  to  induce  him  to  show  his  real  char- 
acter. 

The  next  morning  I  was  arraigned  before  the  Ec- 
clesiastical Court;  a  "Court  of  Jesus  Christ,"  as  it 
was  solemnly  affirmed  to  be.  I  refused  to  admit  that 
any  human  tribunal  had  a  right  to  try  me  for  my  re- 
ligious opinions.  I  told  them  that  the  charge  was 
two=fold,  "that  I  held  doctrines  contrary  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  "doctrines 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God."  To  the  former  I  de- 
clined to  make  any  plea  whatever.  I  acknowledged 
that  I  had  never  formed  my  opinions  with  reference 
to  the  standard  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  that 
I  never  would.  I  stated  that  I  had  never  given  my 
assent  to  those  standards,  and  that  I  did  not  intend 
to  do  so.     Whether  I  was  constitutionally  a  minister 


200  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANt 

of  the  Presbyterian  Church  or  not,  I  left  it  for  thenl 
to  decide,  I  myself  having  nothing  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject. 

As  to  the  charge  that  I  taught  doctrines  contrary 
to  the  Word  of  God,  I  plead  ''  Not  guilty,"  and  pro- 
ceeded to  defend  myself,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  make 
my  defense  convey  a  pointed  criticism  upon  the  the- 
ology of  my  prosecutor,  I  did  him  no  injustice,  but 
before  I  had  sx)oken  long  he  broke  out,  as  I  expected 
he  would,  in  a  storm  of  angry  passion  which  so  re- 
vealed his  own  character  and  sx^irit  as  to  render  a 
long  defense  on  my  part  unnecessary. 

Mr.  Kirby  followed  briefly,  and  we  then  submitted 
our  case.  The  Presbytery,  by  a  large  majority,  voted 
us  "  Not  guilty." 

From  the  known  composition  of  that  body  we  felt 
it  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  Our  prosecutor 
immediately  gave  notice  of  an  appeal  to  the  Synod, 
which  did  not  however  meet  till  the  following  Octo- 
ber. When  in  due  time  this  body  assembled  Mr. 
Beecher  and  myself  were  absent,  both  unfortunately 
having  been  detained  because  I  was  prostrated  by  an 
attack  of  intermittent  fever  while  we  were  traveling 
l^y  stage  from  Louisville  to  St.  Louis.  For  reasons 
never  explained  to  me  the  case  was  not  prosecuted 
before  the  Synod.  Had  it  been,  it  is  x^robable  the 
decision  would  have  been  against  us,  and  that  we 
should  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  defending 
ourselves  before  the  General  Assembly.  Though  Mr. 
Frazer  continued  to  enjoy  the  favor  of  his  party  for 
some  time  longer,  he  seemed  after  that  trial  to  have 
lost  his  power  to  disturb  and  annoy  Illinois  College. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

OTHER  EVENTS  IN  1833-34. 

Just  at  the  close  of  the  year  1832,  the  apartments 
in  the  new  building  which  had  been  appropriated  for 
the  use  of  myself  and  family  were  finished,  and  M'e 
took  possession.  For  nearly  twenty  years  afterward 
they  were  our  home — a  home  of  many  joys,  and,  alas! 
of  some  great  sorrows. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1833  Jacksonville  was  vis- 
ited by  the  cholera  After  the  first  fatal  case  the 
disease  spread  with  alarming  rapidity.  In  the  twi- 
light of  the  same  day  on  which  we  had  heard  that 
the  terrible  scourge  had  reached  our  town,  my  wife 
and  I  were  returning  from  a  ride,  when  we  were  in- 
formed that  the  family  of  Kev.  J.  M.  Ellis  had  been 
attacked,  that  Mrs.  Ellis  was  already  dead  and  that 
the  oldest  child  was  in  the  final  stage  of  the  malady. 
The  next  morning  we  buried  mother  and  son  in  the 
same  grave,  and  within  forty=eight  hours  the  remain- 
ing child  and  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Ellis  were  also  among 
the  dead.  It  was  many  days  before  the  sad  intelli- 
gence reached  the  husband  and  father,  who  was  in 
Indiana  whither  he  was  preparing  to  remove. 

Before  this  terrible  calamity  the  school  taught  by 
Mrs.  Ellis  had  given  place  to  the  female  academy  of 
which  Miss  Sarah  Crocker  was  principal.  We 
brought  Miss  Crocker,  who  had  been  with  Mrs.  Ellis 
and  who  was  already  suffering  with  alarming  premon- 

201 


202  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

itory  synitoms,  to  our  own  house.  By  prompt  medi- 
cal attention  she  escaped,  and  was  soon  afterward 
able  to  go  to  New  England.  For  six  weeks  the  pest- 
ilence raged  around  us.  Most  of  those  who  could  do 
so  fled  from  the  town,  and  in  a  few  days  not  more 
than  four  or  five  hundred  people  remained.  Of  these 
more  than  one  in  every  ten  fell  a  victim  to  the 
disease.  The  Presbyterian  pulpit  was  at  that  time  sup- 
plied by  Rev.  Lucian  Farnham,  a  young  minister  from 
Andover,  who  had  joined  the  Association  of  Theologi- 
cal Students  at  New  Haven  and  had  come  west  with 
his  wife,  an  esteemed  acquaintance  of  Mrs.  Sturtevant 
and  myself.  One  of  the  last  victims  of  the  pestilence 
was  Mrs.  Farnham.  President  Beecher  and  myself 
performed  the  sad  funeral  services,  and  with  our 
wives  followed  her  remains  to  the  grave.  A  few 
hours  afterward  both  our  wives  were  attacked.  But 
the  pestilence  seemed  to  have  sjpent  its  energy,  and, 
though  both  were  very  ill  they  speedily  recovered. 
It  seems  remarkable  that,  though  prevailing  around 
us  on  several  occasions,  cholera  has  never  again  been 
epidemic  in  Jacksonville. 

I  must  add  one  more  sad  incident  to  those  already 
mentioned.  Dr.  Aldis  S.  Allen,  and  his  estimable 
wife,  Eliza  Weeks,  a  native  of  Jamica,  Long  Island, 
arrived  from  Bridgeport,  Conn,  just  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  disease.  Dr.  Allen  was  a  Yale  graduate  of  the 
class  of  1827  and  was  known  to  President  Beecher, 
James  Berdan  Esq.  and  myself,  but  he  was  stricken 
down  with  the  epidemic  before  he  had  time  to  make 
his  arrival  known  to  any  of  us.  Mr.  Berdan  and  his 
friend  and  roommate,  Pierre  Irving,  a  nephew  of 
Washington  Irving,  and  since   then  his  biographer, 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  1833-34  103 

first  discovered  Dr.  Allen  and  sent  word  of  his  alarm- 
ing condition  to  President  Beeclier  and  myself.  We 
found  him  in  the  collapsed  stage  of  the  disease  and 
evidently  near  his  end.  In  sj)ite  of  our  best  effoits 
he  died  in  a  few  hours  and  was  laid  in  the  college 
burying  ground.  His  bereaved  wife  remained  with 
Mr.  Beecher's  family  and  mine  until  she  could  find 
an  opportunity  to  return  to  her  friends  in  the  East. 
Her  sister  was  the  wife  of  Rev.  John  Blatchford, 
D.  D.,  who  soon  afterward  became  well  known  here  and 
who  was  subsequently  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyter- 
ian Church  of  Chicago.  Our  long  and  haj)py 
acquaintance  with  the  Blatchford  family  began  with 
this  sad  incident. 

When  the  pestilence  had  passed  and  those  of  the 
community  who  had  been  returned  to  their  usual 
vocations,  President  Beecher  and  myself  visited  Cin- 
cinnati for  the  purpose  of  attending  a  teachers'  con- 
vention. By  this  time  the  facilities  for  travel  were 
greatly  imjDroved  and  we  made  the  journey  mostly  by 
stage,  taking  the  daily  line  from  Jacksonville  to  St. 
Louis,  and  thence  riding  day  and  night  across  South- 
ern Illinois  and  Indiana,  to  Louisville.  Thence  we 
traveled  by  boat  to  Cincinnati.  The  week  spent 
there  in  the  hospitable  family  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
was  a  wonderful  rest  after  the  cares,  anxieties  and 
sorrows  of  the  j)revious  months. 

The  sessions  of  the  convention  were  very  interest- 
ing, and  it  was  a  great  jileasure  to  exchange  views 
with  the  noble  men  and  women  there  assembled. 
Here  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Harriet  Beecher 
who  was  then  about  twenty-one  years  of  age.  She 
was    not   beautiful,   but  possessed   attractions   with 


204  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

which  no  mere  beauty  could  have  invested  her.  She 
seemed  quite  unconscious  of  her  rare  gifts,  yet  her 
ordinary  conversation  sparkled  with  gems  such  as 
genius  alone  can  produce.  The  impression  I  then 
formed  of  her  dramatic  power  was  scarcely  exceeded 
by  that  which  was  afterwards  produced  upon  me  by 
her  brilliant  story,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 

I  could  not  then  afford  the  long  and  expensive 
journej'  to  the  home  of  my  parents  at  Tallmadge,  yet  I 
have  ever  since  regretted  that  limited  resources  and 
the  demands  of  my  work  prevented  me  from  doing  so, 
for  in  the  following  November  my  dear  mother  died. 
It  was  during  our  stage  ride  home,  that  President 
Beecher  and  myself  were  detained  by  the  attack  of 
intermittent  fever,  mentioned  elsewhere.  We  reached 
home  just  in  time  for  Mr.  Beecher's  inauguration  as 
president  of  the  College,  which  was  to  us  all  a  most 
joyful  occasion. 

Very  soon  after  this  important  event  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Jacksonville  was  organized.  Its 
founders  were  moved  in  their  action  by  a  deliberate 
conviction  of  duty,  and  were  influenced  by  such  con- 
siderations as  the  followijig: 

They  distrusted  the  Presbyterian  Church  be- 
cause of  its  distracted  condition  and  suspected  that  its 
division  were  in  part  the  result  of  its  very  constitu- 
tion. This  suspicion  might  have  been  confirmed  had 
they  known  the  history  of  Presbyterianism,  especial- 
ly in  Scotland.  It  was  also  doubtless  strengthened 
in  their  minds  by  the  recent  ecclesiastical  trial. 

They  felt,  and  I  certainly  concurred  with  them, 
that  the  sect  system  often  placed  Christian  peoj)le  in 
false  and  mischievous  relations  to  each  other.     Seek- 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  1S33-34  205 

ing  a  remedy  for  this  intolerable  evil,  they  found 
none  save  in  such  a  constitution  of  the  Church  as 
would  recognize  no  condition  of  Christian  fellowship 
except  Christian  character.  This  led  them  logically 
and  irresistibly  to  Congregationalism.  Other  organi- 
zations might  welcome  all  without  questions  or 
pledges,  but  they  exacted  conformity  to  their  view  of 
an  ordinance,  or  demanded  from  their  teachers  the 
acceptance  of  a  formula  of  belief  which  was  not  from 
God.  The  constitution  adoj)ted  by  the  Church  at  its 
organization  and  still  remaining  in  force  contains 
these  among  other  articles: — 

Article  III.  Candidates  for  admission  to  this  church  shall 
have  liberty  of  conscience  as  to  the  mode  and  subjects  of  bap- 
tism, and  no  qualification  shall  be  required  as  a  condition  of 
membership  but  credible  evidence  of  Christian  character. 

Article  IV.  This  church  regards  divisions  and  contentions 
among  professing  Christians  as  unsanctioned  by  the  Word  of 
God,  and  injurious  to  the  cause  of  true  religion;  and  it  enjoins 
upon  all  its  members  to  watch  against  in  themselves,  and  dis- 
countenance in  others,  all  sectarian  and  party  feelings  and  pre- 
judices, avoid  as  far  as  possible  religious  controversy,  and  en- 
deavor to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace  with 
all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 

Their  organization  did  not  mean  to  them  the  organ- 
ization of  a  new  sect  in  Jacksonville,  but  the  empha- 
tic assertion  of  a  principle  which  carried  out  would 
put  an  end  to  our  divisions. 

They  probably  saw  with  more  or  less  distinctness 
another  reason  for  their  organization  which  had  to  me 
great  force.  It  was  the  wrong  of  enforcing  the  ac- 
cei^tance  of  such  a  creed  as  that  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  by  ecclesiastical  censures  and  penalties.  If 
any  one  replies  to  this  that  the  creed  is  imposed  only 
"  for  substance  of  doctrine,"  I  reply  that  the  (qualify. 


206  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ing  phrase  surely  cannot  make  the  act  of  subscription 
mean  less  than  a  declaration  that  the  creed  is  an  em- 
inently felicitous  statement  of  Christian  doctrine. 
How  many  of  us  are  prepared  to  accept  the  standards 
even  in  that  sense? 

Surrounded  as  we  then  were  by  sectarian  controversy, 
it  was  most  unfortunate  that  we  should  be  required  to 
defend  not  our  real  opinions  but  the  "  ipsissima 
verba  "  of  standards  which  contained  what  we  felt  to 
be  unfortunate  statements  of  the  truth.  When  our 
shrewd  adversaries  attacked  the  creed  which  we  were 
supposed  to  have  endorsed,  we  could  not  deny  that 
we  fully  accepted  it  or  use  the  better  statements  of 
later  students  without  seeming  to  deserve  the  impu- 
tation of  insincerity  and  double  dealing.  He  who 
publicly  commits  himself  to  a  form  of  words  which 
he  does  not  in  his  heart  believe,  wrongs  himself  and 
the  community  in  which  he  seeks  to  exert  an  influence. 
History  demonstrates  the  utter  futilily  of  any  attempt 
to  hold  men  to  a  system  of  belief  by  requiring  their 
assent  to  a  verbal  statement.  Few  errors  can  be  more 
harmful  than  the  insincerity  involved  in  a  solemn 
utterance  made  with  a  mental  reservation.  The  liv- 
ing children  of  God  will  certainly  in  time  outgrow 
the  most  careful  statement,  and  your  creed  will  re- 
main a  monument  to  the  vain  effort  of  the  past  to  im- 
pose its  thinking  upon  the  future.  Our  only  guaran- 
tee for  the  permancy  of  our  opinions  is  their  truth. 

Providence  gave  me  a  much  nearer  relation  to  the 
organization  of  the  Congregational  church  of  Jack- 
sonville than  I  had  intended  to  assume.  Rev.  Asa 
Turner,  pastor  of  the  newly  organized  Congregational 
church  at  Quincy,  who  had  been  relied  upon  to  pre- 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  IS 33-34  207 

side  and  preach  the  sermon  on  that  occasion,  sent 
word  a  few  days  before  that  he  conld  not  be  present. 
Rev.  Wm.  Carter,  a  licentiate  and  a  member  of  our 
Yale  Association  who  had  just  arrived  from  Connect- 
icut, consented  to  preach  the  sermon.  The  organiza- 
tion was  to  take  i^lace  on  the  Sabbath.  On  the 
Friday  evening  previous,  as  a  last  resort,  application 
was  made  to  me  to  take  i^art  in  the  service,  and 
receive  the  members  of  the  new  organization  into 
covenant  relations  as  a  church — a  service  which  was 
regarded  as  belonging  only  to  an  ordained  minister. 
Knowing  the  disfavor  such  an  act  would  meet  from 
those  who  had  sent  me  to  Illinois,  and  the  displeas- 
ure it  would  cause  in  many  whose  sympathy  and  help 
the  college  sorely  needed,  I  regarded  the  invitation 
as  very  unfortunate.  I  took  twenty=four  hours  for 
consideration,  and  sought  counsel  of  Him  in  whom 
alone  I  could  hope  to  find  wisdom.  On  Saturday 
evening  I  consented  to  comply  with  their  request. 
The  novelty  of  the  occasion  had  drawn  together  a 
congregation  that  completely  filled  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  the  largest  house  of  worship  in 
town,  kindly  loaned  for  the  occasion.  After  an  ex- 
cellent sermon  I  began  the  formal  service  of  organi- 
zation by  saying  that  some  might  think  it  strange 
that  a  minister  of  another  denomination  should  offici- 
ate at  the  organization  of  a  Congregational  church. 
I  stated  that  I  had  two  reasons  for  doing  so: — first, 
that  it  was  my  custom  to  unite  with  any  Christian 
body  in  appropriate  acts  of  worship,  and  I  saw  no 
reason  why  the  present  occasion  should  be  an  excep- 
tion; second,  that  I  cordially  apjjroved  of  the  princi- 
ples of  church  government  which  these  brethren  were 


208  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

about  to  adopt.  I  thought  it  an  excellent  opportu- 
nity to  declare  my  indejjendeuce  and  assert  my  con- 
victions, and  though  there  were,  as  I  foresaw,  some 
painful  consequences,  I  have  never  regretted  it. 

At  that  time  the  church  of  Jacksonville  had 
no  nearer  neighbors  than  eastern  Ohio,  except 
the  four  churches  at  Princeton,  Mendon,  Quincy, 
and  Naperville,  all  but  the  first  organized  during  the 
year. 

Nor  had  we  then  any  reason  to  expect  that  other 
churches  of  this  denomination  would  be  soon  orga- 
nized in  that  region.  Those  three  churches  were  the 
first  evidence  of  open  revolt  against  the  operation  of 
the  "  Plan  of  Union."  At  the  time  of  which  I  write 
most  of  the  Congregational  churches  in  New  Jersey, 
north-eastern  Pennsylvania,  northern  Ohio,  and 
Long  Island  were  under  the  guardianship  of  the 
General  Assembly  and  were  rajiidly  becoming  ab- 
sorbed in  the  Presbyterian  body.  Had  not  some 
stand  been  made  against  this  movement  Congrega- 
tionalism would  soon  have  become  extinct  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States  except  New  England.  From 
the  Congregational  Year=Book  of  1885,  it  ajjpears 
that  there  are  in  New  England  1,481  Congregational 
churches,  and  west  and  south  of  the  Hudson  2,602. 
Within  fifty  years  a  greater  number  of  Congrega- 
tional churches  have  been  established  in  the  west 
and  south  than  ever  existed  in  New  England.  It 
should  also  be  stated  here,  with  emphasis,  that  the 
reason  why  our  fathers  had  consented  to  limit  Con- 
gregationalism to  the  East  was  the  fact  that  they  had 
lost  sight  of  the  fundamentally  anti=sectarian  princi- 
jDles  of  their  system.     They  unwisely  consented  not 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  J 833-34  209 

to  propagate  it  westward  in  order  to  restrict  the  num- 
ber of  sects  in  that  great  region,  when  they  should 
have  remembered  and  enforced  the  broad  scriptural 
rule  of  Christian  fellowshiiJ  wherever  they  establish 
their  homes,  and  held  it  sacred  as  the  only  solvent  by 
which  all  Christian  sects  can  become  one  in  Christ 
Jesus  The  Congregationalism  of  to-day  is  not  half 
conscious  of  this,  its  only  right  to  be. 

Until  our  denomination  can  become  more  fully 
aware  of  its  mission  its  progress  will  be  slow.  Unless 
it  adheres  to  its  one  great  function;  that  of  uniting 
men  in  the  Gospel  which  teaches  "  repentance  toward 
God  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  puts 
no  other  yoke  upon  their  necks;  it  will  ultimately  be 
absorbed  into  the  great  religious  bodies  bound  to- 
gether by  the  strong  but  unscriptural  bands  of  eccle- 
siastical authority. 

In  the  spring  of  1 834  it  was  deemed  expedient  that 
I  should  go  east,  principally  to  look  after  the  collec- 
tion of  funds  i^reviously  subscribed.  The  journey 
afPorded  my  wife  an  opportunity  to  revisit  the  home 
of  her  youth,  and  allowed  me  to  pursue  some  studies 
in  my  own  department  of  instruction.  On  the  way 
we  were  delayed  over  a  Sabbath  in  St.  Louis,  where 
we  were  again  the  recix^ients  of  most  delightful 
Christian  hospitality.  I  preached  twice  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  church,  and  once  in  the  newly  organized 
Second  church,  Rev.  Edwin  F.  Hatfield,  pastor, 
afterward  the  well  known  Dr.  Hatfield  of  New  York, 
long  the  genial  Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Various  events  delayed  our  return  till  the  follow- 
ing spring.  The  year  had  proved  very  valuable  to 
me.     It  gave   me   opportunity    for    intercouse    with 


210  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

many  cultivated  minds,  and  greatly  broadened  my 
mental  vision  No  man  can  think  safely  unless  he 
understands  the  thought  of  his  day  and  generation. 
Although  eastern  people  naturally  cared  little  for 
events  occurring  at  a  place  so  remote  and  obscure  as 
Jacksonville,  I  soon  found  that  my  action  in  helping 
to  organize  the  Congregational  church  had  not  been 
overlooked  by  the  Home  Missionary  Society.  Call- 
ing early  at  the  New  York  office,  my  heart  full  of  joy 
in  the  hope  of  a  pleasant  interview  with  the  officers,  I 
received  a  very  fraternal  welcome  from  the  secretary. 
Rev.  Dr.  Peters  and  his  assistant,  Eev.  Chas.  Fall. 
But  the  former  soon  began  to  call  me  to  account  for 
the  countenance  I  had  been  giving  to  Congregational- 
ism in  Illinois.  I  was  astonished  to  find  that  neither 
a  straight=forward  narration  of  the  circumstances, 
nor  any  other  vindication  I  could  offer  availed  to  allay 
his  displeasure.  In  the  presence  of  one  so  much  my 
superior  in  age  and  reputation  I  was  overawed  and 
silent  as  he  proceeded  to  administer  the  rebuke  which 
he  deemed  the  case  required.  Deeply  distressed  and 
almost  heart-broken,  I  left  the  office.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  I  must  abandon  my  field  of  labor.  At  last, 
however,  after  days  of  mental  darkness,  wdiile  sitting 
alone  reviewing  the  whole  subject  and  seeking  de- 
voutly for  wisdom  from  on  high,  I  seemed  to  find 
relief  when  lifting  my  hand  I  brought  it  down  with  a 
forcible  gesture,  exclaiming,  "  I  can  not  do  other- 
wise, so  help  me  God."  I  dismissed  the  painful  con- 
versation from  my  mind  and  did  not  report  it  and  it 
never  troubled  me  again,  and  never  disturbed  my 
kindly  relations  with  Mr.  Peters.  This  was  by  no 
means  the  only  incident  in  which  I  found  that  my 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  1S33-34  211 

conduct  in  that  matter  was  disapproved  by  men 
whom  I  honored  and  revered. 

After  the  meetin,<jj  of  the  General  Association  of 
Connecticut  that  year,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  form 
the  acquaintance  ef  Rev.  Dr.  Wisner,  Secretary  of 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  we  having  met  in  the  stage  and  traveled 
together  from  Hartford  to  Boston.  That  was  a  day  of 
delightful  sunshine,  not  less  within  than  without  our 
conveyance.  The  overflow  of  his  great  soul  in  utter- 
ing high  and  noble  Christian  thoughts,  his  loving 
sym[)athy  with  all  the  wants  of  humanity,  his  keen 
appreciation  of  the  beautiful  in  nature,  and  his  bril- 
liant wit  and  sparkling  humor,  made  the  entire  jour- 
ney a  great  delight.  His  life  was  to  irradiate  earth 
but  for  a  brief  space.  Though  already  in  the  middle 
of  life  he  died  suddenly  the  next  winter  with  scarlet 
fever. 

I  visited  Amherst,  Mass.,  during  the  following 
winter  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  new  philo- 
sophical apparatus  which  the  college  had  just  le- 
ceived.  When  the  stage  sto^jped  in  the  early  morn- 
ing twilight  at  Hartford,  Dr.  Joel  Hawes  of  the  Center 
Church  took  his  seat  beside  me,  and  I  soon  learned 
with  great  satisfaction  that  we  had  the  same  def-tina- 
tion.  While  a  student  in  college  I  frequently  heard 
him  preach,  and  greatly  admired  his  vigorous  style. 
I  had  recently  been  strongly  impressed  by  reading 
his  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  Pilgrims.  My  hope 
was  that  I  should  now  obtain  much  light  on  that  sub- 
ject. Leading  the  conversation  in  that  direction,  I 
soon  succeeded  in  opening  a  fountain  of  delightful 
thought  and  feeling.     He  hardly  knew  the  condition 


212  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of  the  soil  on  which  he  was  sowing  broadcast  wi  ch  a 
liberal  hand. 

He  greatly  confirmed  me  that  day  in  my  determin- 
ation to  adhere  to  the  broad  ijrinciples  of  Congrega- 
tional fellowship).  At  one  i^oint  in  the  conversation 
he  exclaimed  with  a  very  significant  and  characteristic 
gesture,  "  I  tell  you,  sir,  there  is  no  power  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  but  the  power  of  truth  and  love." 
Tliose  words  I  shall  never  forget.  God  grant  that  I 
and  my  children  and  my  children's  children  may  ad- 
here to  them  forever! 

At  Amherst  I  met  a  most  interesting  literary  circle. 
It  included  among  others  Professor,  afterward  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock,  Prof.  Snell,  Miss  Mary  Lyon  and 
her  friend  and  associate,  Miss  Caldwell,  since  well 
known  as  Mrs.  John  P.  Cowles  of  Ipswich,  Mass. 
The  ladies  were  at  that  time  much  absorbed  in  found- 
ing the  Holyoke  Seminary.  Both  of  them  were 
sprightly  and  vivacious  conversationalists.  Miss  Lyon 
impressed  me  as  a  remarkable  woman.  She  had 
thought  on  many  subjects  and  on  all  of  them  her 
thinking  was  fresh  and  suggestive.  She  had,  how- 
ever, one  fault,  shared  almost  equally  with  another 
woman  for  whom  I  had  an  equal  admiration.  Miss 
Catherine  E.  Beecher.  This  common  fault  was  that 
in  the  earnestness  with  whicii  they  would  pursue  an 
argument  when  the  conversation  had  become  spirited 
and  controversial,  they  led  me  to  forget  that  I  was 
conversing  with  a  woman,  and  tempted  me  to  forget 
that  courtesy  ever  due  to  the  sex.  I  have  no  know- 
ledge of  having  given  ofPense  to  either,  but  I  re- 
proached myself  more  than  once  on  their  account. 

Words  cannot  express  the  pleasure  I  experienced 


OTHER  EVENTS  IN  1833-34         •  213 

that  season  in  the  natural  scenery  of  New  England. 
Its  hills  and  valleys,  its  clear  brooks  running  over  their 
pebbly  bottoms,  its  bays  and  rivers,  the  magnificent 
prospect  revealed  on  every  hand  by  the  inequalities  of 
its  surface,  its  villages  lovely  in  their  neatness  even 
when  architectural  adornment  was  wanting,  were  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  monotonous  levels,  the  tur- 
bid rivers,  the  muddy  brooks  and  the  unfinished  towns 
of  the  region  where  I  had  spent  the  j)revious  five 
years.  Time  and  travel  have  taught  me  how  to  ap- 
preciate my  Western  home.  Landscape  gardening, 
especially  the  judicious  use  of  trees,  can  make  any 
country  beautiful;  and  our  prairie  soil  is  unequalled 
for  the  growth  of  trees.  Many  of  the  most  admired 
portions  of  England  do  not  surpass  our  Illinois  home 
in  natural  advantages. 

We  returned  to  Jacksonville  the  following  spring, 
thoroughly  invigorated  and  much  instructed  and  en- 
joyed with  a  keen  relish  our  hearty  welcome  home. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  NEGRO. 

To  those  who  have  reflected  little  on  the  subject,  it 
may  seem  strange  that  the  "negro  question"  should 
bear  any  important  relation  to  an  enterprise  that 
proposed  only  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  to  found 
a  college  in  a  state  from  which  slavery  was  excluded 
and  where  very  few  colored  i^eople  were  to  be  found. 
Its  bearing  on  our  enterprise  would  be  obvious  to  any 
one  familiar  with  the  relation  which  negro  slavery  has 
sustained  to  American  freedom  and  civilization.  We 
could  not  possibly  have  escaped  our  share  in  the  con- 
flict. Of  all  assaults  upon  our  enterprise,  the  most 
unavoidable,  the  most  violent,  and  the  most  jirotract- 
ed,  concerned  this  subject.  This  was  not  because  I 
and  my  associates  gave  ourselves  at  the  beginning  es- 
pecially to  the  cause  of  emancipation.  We  did,  how- 
ever, recognize  the  obligation  to  face  that  and  every 
other  moral  and  social  question,  and  to  give  our  votes 
and  personal  influence  on  the  side  of  truth  and  right- 
eousness. If  the  advocates  and  sui^porters  of  slavery 
had  allowed  us  to  do  this  we  should  have  pursued  our 
work  without  molestation  or  hindrance.  This  neither 
we  nor  any  other  friends  of  freedom  were  x^ermitted 
to  do.  Hence  the  force  of  the  storm  beat  upon  us 
just  in  proportion  to  the  conspicuousness  of  our  po- 
sition and  the  weight  which  men  attached  to  our  in- 
fluence.    That  a  certain  degree  of  animosity  existed 

214 


THE  NEGRO  215 

from  the  first  between  the  peoi^le  of  the  South  and 
those  of  New  England,  admits  of  no  denial.  The 
root  of  this  antipathy  seems  to  extend  back  to  the 
times  of  the  conflicts  between  the  Cavaliers  and  the 
Roundheads  in  old  England.  If,  however,  this  an- 
tipathy had  not  been  intensified  by  a  difference  in  the 
institutions  of  these  two  portions  of  our  country,  it 
would  have  produced  no  serious  consequences,  and 
in  the  course  of  a  few  generations  would  have  entirely 
disappeared.  Unfortunately,  the  system  of  slavery 
which  was  early  introduced  in  the  South  and,  being 
favored  by  the  climate  and  by  the  hereditary  ideas  of 
the  peoi^le,  rapidly  extended  itself  there,  while  it 
gradually  died  out  in  New  England,  produced  such  a 
difference  of  institutions  as  would  naturally  perpetu- 
ate and  increase  the  unfriendly  feeling. 

The  population  of  Illinois  in  1880  was  very  largely 
of  Southern  origin,  and  its  attitude  towards  this  sub- 
ject was  quite  peculiar.  Many  Southern  emigrants 
had  chosen  this  state  for  a  home  because  slavery  was 
not  tolerated  here.  They  were  jDoor  and  wished  to 
find  a  spot  where  their  labor  would  not  be  degraded 
by  contact  with  the  negro  either  in  freedom  or  slav- 
ery. They  wished  to  live  in  a  free  state,  but  were  de- 
termined not  to  labor  with  emancipated  negroes  as 
their  equals  before  the  law.  They  hated  the  aristo- 
cratic slaveholders,  the  free  negro,  and  above  all  j)er- 
sons  who  were  susi^ected  of  favoring  emancipation. 
Nowhere  did  the  idea  of  freeing  the  slaves  and  per- 
mitting them  to  dwell  as  equals  among  the  whites  ex- 
cite more  violent  opposition  than  in  southern  Illinois. 

The  existence  of  slave4iolding  States  on  the  south- 
ern and  much  of  the  western  border,  separated  from 


2l6  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANt 

US  only  by  great  rivers  also  greatly  excited  the  pas* 
sions  of  the  pro=slavery  party.  St  Louis,  then  the 
only  mart  of  extreme  western  commerce,  was  the 
intensely  heated  focus  of  hostility  to  Abolitionism. 
Every  hint  of  a  popular  movement,  every  newspaper 
paragraph  looking  toward  emancipation,  aroused  in- 
tense indignation  and  created  strong  suspicion  against 
all  believed  to  possess  northern  sympathies.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  perceive  that  this  wretched  state  of  affairs 
greatly  retarded  educational  progress  in  general  and 
our  college  in  particular. 

The  beginning  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation  as  led 
by  Mr.  Garrison  very  nearly  coincided  in  time  with 
the  beginning  of  our  work  in  this  state.  From  the 
first  there  was  in  our  institution  itself  a  tendency 
toward  a  manly  denunciation  of  slavery.  Among  our 
students  were  a  number  of  young  men  of  marked  tal- 
ent and  promise  from  Bond  County.  Several  came 
from  Ripley,  Ohio;  a  community  whose  earley  anti= 
slavery  history  was  exceptional.  Others  w'ere  reared 
in  eastern  Tennessee  within  the  limits  appropriated 
to  slavery,  yet  so  isolated  among  the  mountains  that 
they  never  had  become  pro=slavery.  It  was  certain 
therefore  that  strong  utterances  in  behalf  of  emanci- 
pation would  meet  a  hearty  res^Donse  in  the  college 
itself.  All  material  necessary  for  the  "  irrepressible 
conflict  "  were  present  with  us;  intense  opposition  to 
slavery  within  the  institution,  and  intense  sympathy 
with  it  outside. 

No  one  could  have  had  a  greater  love  for  equal 
rights  than  myself,  for  anti=slavery  sentiments  had 
come  down  to  me  from  honored  ancestors.  But  up  to 
the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking  my  oj)inions  on 


THE  NEGBO  ^11 

the  subject  differed  little  from  those  generally  enter- 
tained in  the  northern  states.  I  was  opposed  to 
slavery,  but  had  not  thought  of  an  effort  to  abolish  it 
in  the  United  States  as  a  XDractical  undertaking.  It 
seemed  to  me  and  to  others  around  me  an  intolerable 
evil  fastened  upon  us  by  our  past  history,  but  one 
which  admitted  of  no  immediate  remedy.  Our 
fathers  had  so  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  as  to  permit  its  continuance,  and  I  found  no 
provision  granting  the  right  to  abolish  it.  As  soon 
as  Lloyd  Garrison  and  his  co^laborers  began  to  de- 
nounce slavery  as  a  sin  against  God  which  ought  to 
be  put  away  by  instantaneous  repentance  I  admitted 
its  sinfulness,  and  as  a  patriot  trembled  in  view  of 
the  righteous  vengeance  of  God  in  consequence  of  it, 
but  these  denunciations  seemed  to  me  barren  of  any 
practical  results.  How  could  the  nation  be  brought 
to  repentance?  The  president  and  his  cabinet  could 
not  abolish  slavery.  The  courts  had  no  power  for  its 
removal;  Congress  could  not  do  it.  The  agitation 
which  produced  so  much  distress  proposed  nothing 
practical. 

I  by  no  means  affirm  that  these  agitators  never  pre- 
sented practical  issues.  In  many  cases  they  certainly 
did.  When  Wendell  Phillips  made  his  sj^eech  in 
Faneuil  Hall  in  defense  of  the  individual  rights  of 
citizens  which  had  been  invaded  in  the  person  of  Mr. 
Garrison,  who  had  been  led  through  the  streets  of 
Boston  with  a  halter  around  his  neck  for  no  other 
offence  than  denouncing  negro  slavery,  he  spoke  to  a 
very  practical  issue,  and  the  better  class  of  peoj^le  not 
only  in  Boston  but  throughout  the  North  were  in  sym- 
pathy with  him.     But  when  anti^slavery  orators  de- 


218  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

nounced  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  "  a 
covenant  with  death  and  a  league  with  hell,"  without 
suggesting  any  i^ractical  steps  towards  its  ammendment, 
that  was  unpractical  declamation.  True  the  Constitu- 
tion protected  slavery;  but  it  also  i^rovided  for  its  own 
amendment,  and  it  was  the  function  of  a  true  reformer 
to  point  out  how  that  very  Constitution  should  be 
used  in  abolishing  slavery  and  defending  the  rights  of 
the  negro. 

When  those  zealous  orators  defended  the  rights  of 
fugitives  from  slavery  and  urged  upon  the  citizens  of 
the  free  North  their  obligation  to  protect  and  defend 
in  every  possible  way  these  aspirants  for  freedom,  all 
human  enactments  in  the  Constitution  or  outside  of 
it  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  they  acted  the  part 
of  true  and  practical  reformers;  for  there  are  times 
when  good  citizenshij)  has  no  higher  expression  than 
the  loyal  acceptance  of  a  penalty  for  breaking  a  law 
which  conscience  forbids  one  to  obey.  But  when,  as 
was  often  the  case,  an  orator  addressing  a  northern 
audience  expended  his  fiery  eloquence  in  denouncing 
slavery  as  a  sin  against  God  and  calling  upon  his 
hearers  to  put  it  away  by  immediate  reioentance,  he 
was  as  "  one  who  beats  the  air."  Such  oratory  tended 
rather  to  irritate  than  to  convince  men.  This  state- 
ment in  part  explains  the  attitude  of  many  good  men 
at  the  North  toward  the  agitators  of  those  years.  They 
answered  such  utterances  by  saying  "  We  are  not 
guilty  of  the  sin,  and  cannot  put  it  away  by  repen- 
tance. We  are  no  more  responsible  for  it  than  for 
polygamy  in  Turkey.  You  should  go  south  with 
your  denunciation."  True,  those  things  could  not 
have  been  said  in  those  days  at  the  South,  but  that 


THE  NEGRO  219 

was  no  reason  why  the  righteous  indignation  of  the 
abolitionists  should  exjjend  itself  upon  those  who 
were  in  no  way  responsible  for  the  wrong. 

The  true  statesmen  of  the  anti=slavery  revolution 
were  the  men  who  thought  out  and  advocated  those 
practical  lines  of  political  action  which  were  within 
the  limits  of  the  Constitution  and  commended  them- 
selves to  all  thoughtful  and  candid  men.  When  legit- 
imate and  practicable  modes  of  action  against  slavery 
were  suggested  they  attracted  immediate  attention, 
and  their  supporters  multiplied  with  great  rapidity. 
When  John  Quincy  Adams,  "  the  Old  Man  eloquent," 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives  vindi- 
cated the  right  of  petition  as  the  inalienable  jjosses- 
sion  even  of  the  meanest  slave  in  the  land,  the  nation 
listened  with  reverence  and  awe.  To  all  righteous 
men  his  words  were  "  as  water  to  the  thirsty  soul." 

Let  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  early  associates  have  all 
the  honor  which  their  bravery  and  their  self  sacrific- 
ing devotion  deserve;  but  the  impartial  future  will 
hardly  give  them  credit  for  that  wise  insight  and 
sober  thoughtf  ulness  which  are  essential  to  the  great- 
est reformers.  Those  who  stood  aloof  and  regarded 
them  with  dread  and  aversion  were  not  all  poltroons 
and  cowards.  They  were  not  imbeciles  or  bigots,  for 
many  of  them  would  have  rallied  to  the  standard  of 
emancipation  sooner  than  they  did  had  not  wise  and 
sober-minded  leaders  been  wanting. 

One  of  the  earliest  converts  to  the  intense  aboli- 
tionism of  Mr.  Garrison  was  my  long  tried  friend 
Elizur  Wright.  From  tlie  time  of  our  graduation  we 
maintained  a  very  active  correspondence,  often  writ- 
ing to  each  other  weekly.     This  continued  for  five  or 


220  JULIAN  M.   STURTEVANT 

six  years,  and  I  greatly  enjoyed  his  racy  and  incisive 
letters.  Our  views  often  differed,  but  each  tolerated 
the  other's  opinions  and  defended  his  own  as  well  as 
he  could.  For  instance,  his  position  on  the  subject 
of  total  abstinence  w^as  much  more  extreme  than  my 
own.  After  a  time,  to  my  great  delight,  he  was  ap- 
pointed i^rofessor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phil- 
osophy in  Western  Reserve  College,  a  position  he 
was  well  qualified  to  fill.  Before  long,  however,  he 
with  two  other  officers  of  that  institution,  President 
Chas.  B.  Storrs  and  Professor  Beriah  Green,  became 
ultra  abolitionists,  and  plunged  with  characteristic  in- 
tensity into  the  controversies  which  were  nowhere 
more  intense  than  on  "  the  Western  Reserve "  in 
Ohio.  Disastrous  convulsions  in  the  college  soon 
followed,  and  Professor  Wright  and  Professor  Green, 
who  was  also  a  very  able  man,  resigned.  Both  of 
them  were  among  the  founders  of  the  Anti=Slavery 
Society,  and  Mr.  Wright  vras  one  of  its  secretaries. 

President  Storrs  was  as  yet  a  young  man,  but  he 
exceeded  in  effective  eloquence  most,  if  not  all,  of 
the  public  speakers  I  have  heard.  No  man  ever 
moved  me  so  profoundly.  The  terrible  energy  of 
his  mind  and  the  passionate  intensity  of  his  soul 
stirred  to  its  depths  by  a  theme  so  absorbing  and  ter- 
rific, was  too  much  for  a  feeble  body.  He  was  at- 
tacked with  consumption,  and  died  before  he  reached 
his  prime.  Up  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Wright's  connec- 
tion with  the  an ti ^slavery  agitation  our  correspond- 
ence had  continued,  and  on  my  jjart  was  very  highly 
valued.  His  letters,  bristling  with  anti=slavery  sen- 
timents, did  not  displease  me  though  I  freely  criti- 
cised what  seemed  to  me  his  untenable  positions.     At 


THE  NEGRO  221 

first  he  continued  to  reply,  but  soon  bis  letters 
ceased.  While  I  have  been  writing  these  pages,  the 
mournful  intelligence  of  his  death  has  reached  me. 
I  will  utter  no  word  of  reproach  against  Elizur 
Wright.  We  loved  each  other,  and  he  acted  the  part 
of  a  firm  and  faithful  friend  in  many  a  scene  of  trial 
and  sorrow. 

Since  his  death  a  writer  signing  himself  "  Temple- 
ton"  has  given  a  sketch  of  his  life  in  the  Boston 
Herald.  He  professes  to  have  received  his  knowl- 
edge from  Mr.  Wright  himself.  He  once  mentions 
quite  incidentally  my  own  name,  but  in  a  spirit 
which  I  am  reluctant  to  believe  Mr.  Wright  would 
have  sanctioned.  Few  events  in  my  life  have  pained 
me  more  than  this  alienation  from  the  friend  of  my 
early  years,  especially  in  view  of  the  suspicion  that 
its  cause  was  his  utter  defection  from  the  Christian 
faith,  once  as  precious  to  him  as  to  myself.  "  Temple- 
ton's"  effort  to  make  the  impression  that  Mr.  Wright 
was  never  in  active  sympathy  with  the  Christian 
Church  is  unworthy  of  one  who  professes  to  be  a 
friend  of  the  truth.  During  the  four  years  of  our 
college  life  no  student  of  Yale  was  more  thoroughly 
identified  with  the  Church  than  he.  I  have  no  spe- 
cial knowledge  of  the  cause  of  his  defection.  To  his 
own  master  he  standeth  or  falleth. 

A  trifling  incident  which  occurred  during  the  last 
months  of  my  correspondence  with  Mr.  Wright  will 
illustrate  to  my  readers  the  volcano  over  which  we 
felt  ourselves  to  be  living.  A  neighbor  asked  me 
very  seriously  one  day,  "  Do  you  keep  any  abolition 
documents  in  your  house"?  I  thought  of  Mr. 
Wright's  letters  which  I  had  carefully  filed,  and  of 


222  JULIAN  M.  STUETEVANT 

other  free  utterances  of  my  libertj'^loviiig  friends, 
and  answered  that  I  certainly  did.  He  very  solemnly 
admonished  me  to  burn  all  such  dangerous  docu- 
ments at  once.  I  disregarded  his  advice,  not  because 
the  possession  of  such  a  private  correspondence 
really  carried  no  danger  with  it,  but  because  that 
peril  seemed  small  among  the  many  that  sur- 
rounded us. 

Providentially,  Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy  became  the 
prominent  representative  of  abolitionism  in  that  re- 
gion, because  he  was  the  editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Ob- 
serv^er,  in  which  anti-slavery  sentiments  were  frankly 
expressed,  not  in  the  violent  j)hraseology  of  Garrison 
and  Phillips,  but  in  mild,  temperate,  and  gentle- 
manly language.  We  often  entertained  Mr.  Lovejoy 
at  our  house.  Bold  and  fearless,  he  was  nevertheless 
an  amiable,  afPectionate,  and  lovable  man.  When 
driven  by  the  mob  from  St.  Louis  he  unwisely,  as  I 
thought,  established  his  ipaper  at  Alton,  only  twenty- 
five  miles  distant  by  steamer.  In  and  around  Alton, 
in  spite  of  the  excellent  character  of  that  commu- 
nity, there  was  a  rough  and  vicious  element  easily 
controlled  by  unscrupulous  agitators,  and  certain  to 
be  influenced  and,  in  a  time  of  excitement,  reinforced 
by  the  mob  at  St.  Louis.  My  fears  were  soon  real- 
ized, and  Mr.  Lovejoy's  printing  press  was  thrown 
into  the  river. 

This  brought  sharplj'  before  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  his 
friends  the  question  whether  to  retire  to  some  safer 
place  or  to  make  a  determined  stand  at  Alton,  and  l)ring 
another  press  and  defend  it  at  all  hazards.  Just  at 
this  crisis,  in  Nov.  1837,  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of 
Illinois,  with  which  body  almost  all  the  clerical  ad- 


THE  NEGRO  223 

herents  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  were  identified,  met  at 
Springfield.  The  most  earnest  of  these  were  invited 
to  meet  one  evening  to  discnss  the  sitnation.  I  was 
present  at  that  meeting.  The  more  moderate  and 
cautious  view  of  the  situation  had  no  advocate  in  tliat 
assembly  but  myself.  I  argued  that  the  bringing 
of  another  anti  slavery  press  to  Alton  would  produce 
nothing  but  disaster.  Experience  had  shown  that 
the  press  could  not  be  defended  in  that  community. 
I  advised  them  to  retire  from  the  field,  after  making 
a  solemn  protest  against  the  violence  which  had  been 
there  done  to  the  cause  of  freedom  rather  than  to  ex- 
pose life  and  property  to  farther  violence.  One  speaker 
replying  to  my  argument  said  with  a  tone  of  ineffable 
coutemj)t:  "  Slavery  is  like  an  old  lion  that  has  lost 
both  teeth  and  claws,  and  can  only  growl."  Of 
course  my  position  was  not  popular.  I  went  too  far 
against  slavery  to  win  the  favor  of  its  advocates,  and 
not  far  enough  to  gain  the  approbation  of  its  as- 
sailants. 

An  anti-slavery  convention  was  to  be  held  at  Alton 
the  next  week  after  the  meeting  of  the  Synod.  All 
Mr.  Lovejoy's  friends  were  urged  to  be  present,  and 
President  Beecher  had  resolved  to  attend.  I  was 
strongly  inclined  to  go,  and  should  have  been  jDres- 
ent  but  for  two  reasons  It  was  inconvenient  for  two 
members  of  the  college  faculty  to  be  absent  at  the 
same  time,  and  I  had  jiromised  to  j)erform  a  mar- 
riage and  could  not  well  break  the  engagement. 

President  Beecher  has  himself  given  a  graphic  ac- 
count of  that  convention  in  his  "  Alton  Riots."  In 
the  sessions  of  that  body  he  was  a  prominent  figure, 
and  perhaps  more  than  any  other  individual  was  held 


224  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVAXT 

responsible  by  the  public  for  its  action.  After  the 
adjournment  of  the  convention,  while  the  public 
mind  at  Alton  and  St.  Louis  was  still  quivering  with 
excitement,  it  became  known  that  the  new  press  was 
hourly  expected.  Mr.  Beecher  lingered  a  little  to 
await  the  result.  The  press  arrived  by  boat  in  the 
night,  and  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  President  Beecher  went 
at  once  to  the  landing,  saw  the  press  stored  in  the 
warehouse,  and  stood  guard  till  morning.  At  day- 
light the  president  took  the  stage  for  Jacksonville. 
The  night  following,  abundant  symptoms  of  danger 
being  apparent,  Mr.  Lovejoy  and  a  number  of  his 
friends  armed  themselves  and  repaired  to  the  ware- 
house to  defend  their  property.  I  need  not  relate  the 
rest  of  the  sad  story.  Before  morning  Mr.  Lovejoy 
was  shot  by  the  mob  and  instantly  killed  while  vainly 
attempting  to  defend  his  press  from  destruction. 

If  Mr.  Lovejoy *s  friends  were  right  in  advising  him 
to  imperil  his  precious  life  in  defense  of  that  press, 
did  not  consistency  demand  that  another  press  should 
be  procured  and  yet  more  desperately  defended?  If 
I  was  cowardly  to  advise  before  Lovejoy 's  death  the 
abandonment  of  a  paper  at  Alton  was  it  not  also  cow- 
ardly to  al^andon  the  Alton  Bluff  after  the  noble  man 
had  there  made  a  martyr  of  himself?  I  have  never 
been  ashamed  of  the  counsel  given  at  Springfield. 

The  events  just  recorded  placed  Mr.  Beecher  and 
his  immediate  friends  at  Jacksonville  in  imminent 
jDeril.  Our  friends  far  and  near  were  greatly  alarmed. 
There  was  evident  danger  that  a  ferocious  mob  would 
make  an  immediate  attack  u]X)n  the  head  of  the  institu- 
tion and  upon  the  college  buildinsg.  For  me  and  the 
other  instructors  only  one  course  of  action  was  now 


THE  NEGRO  225 

possible.  Though  President  Beecher  was  the  imme- 
diate object  of  hostility,  all  of  us  were  threatened, 
and  the  very  existence  of  the  college  was  endangered. 
It  was  no  time  to  discuss  the  action  of  the  conven- 
tion, the  death  of  Mr.  Lovejoy  or  the  expediency  of 
Mr.  Beechers  course.  He  had  committed  no  crime, 
and  had  only  advocated  the  freedom  of  the  press  and 
exercised  the  right  of  free  speech  which  belongs  to 
every  citizen  of  a  free  country.  It  was  our  duty  to 
stand  by  him  at  whatever  hazard.  In  this  we  were 
unanimous.  Threats  were  abundant  but  no  actual 
violence  was  attempted,  and  the  excitement  gradually 
subsided.  But  it  left  in  many  minds  a  feeling  of 
intense  hatred,  not  only  toward  Mr.  Beecher  but 
toward  us  all.  And  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
these  hostile  feelings  were  not  confined  to  such  per- 
sons as  generally  composed  the  mob,  but  affected 
many  individuals  of  wealth  and  social  standing  and 
even  of  religious  reputation. 

This  feverish  state  of  the  community  was  a  great 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  college.  It  greatly  limited 
the  number  of  our  students.  The  secular  newspapers 
of  St.  Louis  were  widely  circulated  in  all  the  south- 
ern portion  of  Illinois,  and  were  intensely  hostile  in 
their  utterances  concerning  us.  The  prejudices  thus 
excited  could  not  be  argued  away,  though  in  the  prog- 
ress of  a  generation  they  have  been  lived  down.  For 
many  years  we  were  constantly  exposed  to  annoyances 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  institution. 

As  has  already  been  intimated,  there  was  much 
anti= slavery  sentiment  among  the  more  thoughtful 
and  earnest  of  our  students.  At  our  public  exhibi- 
tions, which  occurred  two  or  three  times  a  year,  the 


226  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

young  men  were  often  disiDosed  to  give  free  utterance 
to  their  convictions  on  such  subjects,  and  neither  our 
tastes  nor  our  principles  permitted  us  to  repress  them 
by  any  stringent  restrictions.  On  the  other  hand 
these  exhibitions  were  generally  supervised  by  certain 
men  of  ruffianly  habits  and  pro^slavery  prejudices 
who  wished  to  act  as  the  self^constituted  guardians 
of  the  moral  and  social  proprieties  of  the  occasion. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  trustees  of  churches 
not  otherwise  unfriendly  were  reluctant  to  grant  the 
use  of  their  places  of  worship  for  our  exercises,  lest 
these  gentlemen  might  express  their  feelings  in  such 
a  way  as  to  injure  the  buildings.  The  history  of  our 
town  in  those  years  is  a  sad  story.  "  My  soul  hath  it 
in  remembrance  and  is  humbled." 

Jacksonville  was  not  worse  in  that  respect  than 
most  towns  in  that  region.  It  might  have  been  bet- 
ter. In  some  towns  a  different  state  of  things  pre- 
vailed. Quincy  was  not  better  off  in  respect  to  the 
character  of  the  i^opulation  in  and  around  it  than 
most  of  its  neighbors,  but  it  possessed  a  band  of  reso- 
lute, patriotic  men  who  from  a  very  early  period 
defended  the  right  of  free  speech.  When  a  pro= 
slavery  mob  drove  Dr.  David  Nelson  from  eastern 
Missouri  and  j)ursued  him  to  Quincy  with  the  intent 
of  wreaking  their  vengeance  on  him  there,  those  noble 
men  successfully  defended  him.  Some  of  them  were 
abolitionists,  but  some  were  simply  good  men  and 
good  citizens.  John  Wood,  afterwards  governor  of 
the  state;  Joseph  T.  Holmes,  then  engaged  in  secular 
business  in  Quincy  but  subsequently  a  highlydion- 
ored  Congregational  minister  ot  Griggsville,  Willard 
Keyes  and  others  who  stood  with  them,  deserve  to  be 


THE  XEGRO  227 

held  in  everlasting  remembrance.  Similar  things 
might  have  been  done  in  other  towns  had  such  men 
been  there  to  do  them. 

I  select  one  out  of  many  incidents  which  might  il- 
lustrate our  unhappy  condition  in  those  years. 
About  the  year  1834  a  family  of  wealth,  historic  rep- 
utation and  high  social  position  immigrated  to  this 
state  from  Kentucky,  and  selected  Jacksonville  as 
their  home.  They  brought  here  two  of  their  slaves, 
a  man  and  his  sister,  under  a  contract  that  they  should 
be  free  at  a  certain  age,  perhaps  it  was  twenty=five. 
After  a  time  these  colored  people  were  told  that  they 
were  already  free  according  to  law  as  their  master  had 
brought  them  into  a  free  state.  Seeking  legal  advice 
they  were  told  that  such  was  really  the  fact  and  were 
urged  to  take  immediate  steps  to  i^rocure  the  recogni- 
tion of  their  rights.  In  order  to  do  this  they  were  ad- 
vised to  withdraw  from  their  master  and  mistress 
without  permission  and  to  take  charge  of  their  own 
affairs,  and  in  accordance  with  the  counsel  of  their 
attorney  they  left  home.  Soon  afterwards  the  man 
was  seized  by  four  armed  men  while  engaged  in  cut- 
ting wood  near  the  house  of  a  negro  family  with  whom 
he  boarded,  who  gagged  him,  tied  his  hands  Ijehind 
him  and  hurried  him  through  the  streets  to  the  house 
of  his  late  master.  There  he  was  forced  into  a  car- 
riage, driven  to  Naples  on  the  Illinois  river  whence  he 
was  shipped  on  a  steamboat  bound  southward,  and 
thereafter  all  trace  of  him  was  lost.  The  whole  pro- 
ceeding was  without  the  slightest  pretence  of  legal 
formality.  A  bill  of  indictment  for  kidnapping  was 
found  against  the  leader  of  this  gang,  and  nothing 
could  be  more  obvious  than  his  guilt  under  the  laws 


228  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of  the  state.  The  trial  was  held  in  Jacksonville  under 
all  the  recognized  forms  of  law,  but  resulted  in  a  ver- 
dict of  acquittal. 

"  Then  I,  and  you,  and  all  of  us,  fell  down, 
Whilst  bloody  treason  flourished  over  us." 

The  shock  to  the  whole  community  occasioned  by 
this  outrage  is  beyond  description.  Its  immediate  ef- 
fect was  a  horror  so  great  as  to  produce  paralysis. 
The  very  life  blood  of  society  seemed  to  pause.  All 
readers  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  must  have  noticed  the 
power  with  which  at  several  points  Mrs.  Stowe  de- 
picts the  tendency  of  hopeless  oppression  to  produce 
atheism  in  the  public  mind.  When  after  the  terrible 
whipping  on  Simon  Legree's  plantation  Uncle  Tom 
spoke  to  Cassy  of  his  faith  in  God,  she  quickly 
replied:  "There's  no  God  here."  The  effect  of  that 
outrage  on  the  people  of  Jacksonville  and  its  vicinity 
was  a  striking  illustration  of  the  same  tendency.  EfPort 
to  resist  the  tyranny  that  was  over  us  seemed  utterly 
hopeless. 

If  the  hearts  of  men  had  expressed  themselves  in 
words  they  would  have  said  in  relation  to  slavery: 
"God  no  longer  governs;  Satan  is  enthroned."  This 
utter  paralysis  did  not,  however,  long  continue.  When 
the  immediate  shock  was  over  and  men  had  time  to 
reflect,  anti=slavery  sentiment  was  greatly  strength- 
ened and  the  conviction  that  slavery  must  be  over- 
thrown began  steadily  to  win  converts  on  all  sides. 
Nothing  else  in  our  local  history  did  so  much  to 
weaken  the  i^ro^slavery  party.  The  leaders  in  this 
transaction  were  the  men  who  had  held  the  bludgeon 
of  slavery  over  us  for  many  years.  Aside  from  their 
political  sentiments  they   were   men   of  respectable 


THE  NEGRO  229 

standing  in  the  community,  but  as  a  result  of  this 
kidnapijing  they  and  all  others  in  sympathy  with  them 
or  who  in  any  way  sustained  the  outrage  suffered 
permanent  loss  of  influence.  I  ought  also  to  say  that 
great  efforts  were  made  to  obtain  possession  of  the 
girl  who  was  claimed  for  slavery,  but  she  fell  into  the 
hands  of  friends  who  bravely,  skilfully  and  success- 
fully i^rotected  her.  She  was  soon  taken  into  the 
family  of  Elihu  Wolcott,  who  already  occupied  a 
leading  position  among  the  abolitionists  of  Jackson- 
ville and  of  the  whole  state.  He  brought  suit  for  her 
freedom  and  finally  obtained  for  her  free  papers  under 
the  seal  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state.  In  her 
case  the  law  was  vindicated.  It  would  have  been 
equally  so  in  the  case  of  her  brother,  had  he  not  been 
robbed  of  his  liberty  by  that  deed  of  open  violence. 

The  events  just  related  occurred  in  1838.  From 
that  time  onward  there  was  in  our  community  a  slow 
but  steady  progress  of  the  anti=slavery  sentiment. 
The  number  those  who  openly  entertained  it  increased, 
and  the  asperity  with  which  they  had  been  regarded 
sensibly  diminished  from  year  to  year.  The  obstaclt  s 
which  our  college  had  experienced  from  that  source 
were  no  longer  of  any  serious  magnitude. 

To  the  small  though  steadily  growing  Congrega- 
tional church,  organized  as  we  have  seen  amid  so 
much  obloquy,  the  credit  of  the  steady  x^rogress  of 
anti=slavery  sentiment  must  in  no  small  degree  be  at- 
tributed. To  it  the  i^ersecuted  slave  woman  just 
spoken  of  owed  her  safety  and  ultimate  deliverance. 
In  it  the  negro,  however  persecuted  and  despised 
elsewhere,  was  recognized  and  treated  as  a  brother. 
From  its  very  organization  it  was  known  as  the  "Abo- 


230  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

lition  Church,"  and  those  not  willing  to  extend  Chris- 
tian fellowship  to  all  of  God's  children,  whether  white 
or  black,  rich  or  poor,  would  not  seek  membership 
there.  It  has  always  stood  forth  in  bold  relief  as  the 
representative  of  freedom,  intellectual,  personal  and 
ecclesiastical.  This  spirit  has  not  greatly  promoted 
its  growth  in  members  and  wealth,  but  has  made  it  a 
power  for  good  wherever  its  influence  has  been  felt. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

A  BRIGHT  PROSPECT  OVERCLOUDED. 

The  period  extending  from  the  early  settlement  of 
Chicago,  about  1831-1837,  was  marked  by  great  pros- 
perity in  the  states  of  Illinois  and  Missouri.  Previ- 
ous to  this  immigration  was  mostly  from  the  south 
and  the  southeast,  the  settlers  coming  across  the 
country  in  emigrant  wagons,  or  reaching  their  desti- 
nation by  way  of  the  great  rivers.  With  the  founding 
of  Chicago  a  great  immigration  began  to  flow  from 
the  east  and  northeast  by  way  of  the  lakes.  In  1831 
northern  Illinois  was  almost  an  unbroken  wilderness 
excepting  the  small  settlements  which  had  gathered 
around  the  rich  lead  mines  in  its  north=^western 
corner.  A  wonderful  change  now  took  place.  A 
remarkably  enterj^rising  and  intelligent  population 
poured  through  the  northern  gate  and  quickly  over- 
flowed the  prairies,  till  the  streams  of  immigration 
from  the  north  and  the  south  met  far  to  the  north  of 
Jacksonville.  Central  Illinois  was  also  gaining  rap- 
idly in  wealth  and  population.  Agriculture  was 
greatly  extended,  flourishing  towns  and  cities  were 
multiplied,  and  the  eager  immigrant  saw  nothing 
b3fore  him  but  a  prospect  of  unlimited  wealth  and 
prosi)erity. 

To  those  intrusted  with  the  management  of  Illinois 
College  this  seemed  a  favorable  time  for  establishing 
it  on  a  firm  foundation  by  an  ample  endowment.     In 

231 


232  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

those  days  a  great  many  citizens  of  the  state  already 
in  their  own  estimation  and  that  of  their  friends, 
possessed  great  and  rapidly  increasing  fortunes.  At 
first  the  college  was  practically  without  competition. 
The  broad  field  from  the  Ohio  to  Chicago  and  Galena 
was  all  its  own,  and  the  outlook  was  certainly  very 
encouraging.  President  Beecher  was  in  great  measure 
released  from  his  duties  as  instructor  that  he  might 
devote  himself  to  the  work  of  endowment.  For  some 
time  the  success  of  the  undertaking  equaled  our  most 
sanguine  expectations.  Large  pledges  were  cheer- 
fully made  with  cheering  assurances  that  the  college 
should  never  lack  funds.  In  a  few  months  subscrip- 
tions deemed  good  for  the  amount  of  175.000,  had 
been  obtained.  As  it  was  also  a  time  of  great  finan- 
cial i^rosperity  in  the  east,  President  Beecher 
extended  his  efforts  there,  and  we  were  soon  led  to 
the  comforting  conclusion  that  financially  the  future 
of  the  college  was  secure. 

These  cheerful  prospects  affected  the  financial 
management  of  the  institution.  Larger  expenses 
were  incurred  and  arrangements  were  made  for  the 
future  in  accordance  with  our  promised  increase  of 
income.  I  did  not  deem  the  plans  of  the  trustees 
extravagant  or  unwise  in  view  of  our  large  exjjecta- 
tions.  Their  only  mistake  lay  in  the  fact  that,  in 
common  with  the  entire  community,  they  assumed 
that  the  apparent  wealth  upon  which  their  subscrip- 
tions depended  for  their  value  was  a  jDermanent 
reality.  It  soon  became  apparent  that  in  this  as- 
sumption not  only  the  West,  but  the  whole  country, 
was  under  a  fatal  delusion. 

The  present  generation  can  scarcely  conceive  how 


.1   BRIGHT  PROSPECT  OVERCLOUDED  233 

great  that  delusion  was.  Every  village  with  the 
smallest  prosiject  of  growth,  and  even  some  uninhab- 
ited spots  in  the  wilderness,  had  a  large  area  staked 
off  into  towndots  and  platted  in  a  highly  ornamented 
style  for  the  information  of  j)urchasers.  And  those 
lots  were  actually  sold  at  stiff  city  prices.  The  larger 
towns  were  already  great  cities  on  i^aper.  Alton,  with 
a  population  of  four  or  five  thousand,  had  staked  off 
all  the  sorrounding  bluffs.  A  short  time  before  his 
death  Mr.  Lovejoy  had  predicted  in  the  Alton  01)- 
eerver,  that  in  ten  years  the  city  would  contain  50,000 
inhabitants.  From  Peru  to  Ottawa,  about  sixteen 
miles,  the  whole  Illinois  bottom  and  even  the  top  of 
Buffalo  Rock  was  platted  for  a  continuous  city.  Even 
in  Jacksonville,  then  containing  a  population  of  not 
more  than  twelve  hundred,  speculation  was  so  active 
that  a  man  could  hardly  keep  pace  with  the  real 
estate  transfers  in  the  vicinity  of  his  own  dwelling. 
The  sale  of  these  western  "  city  lots  "  was  not  confined 
to  the  western  market.  Land  titles  came  gradually 
to  form  a  part  of  the  circulating  medium  in  New 
York,  Boston  and  Philadelx)hia. 

The  year  1837  brought  an  unprecedented  financial 
crisis,  and  the  delusion  vanished  like  a  dream.  The 
inevitable  pay  day  had  come.  Every  creditor  de- 
manded payment,  and  few  debtors  had  anything 
wherewith  to  pay.  In  a  few  months  almost  all  the 
banks  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic  suspended 
specie  payment.  Unoccupied  city  lots  were  no 
longer  assets,  for  they  could  no  more  be  sold  than  a 
milliner's  stock  when  it  is  years  behind  the  fashion. 
Men  who  a  few  months  previous  believed  themselves 
to  be  worth  hundreds  of  thousands,  now  found  them- 


234  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

selves  hopelessly  bankrupt.  Perhaps  so  great  a  collapse 
was  never  before  experienced  in  the  financial  world 
as  that  which  occurred  in  the  states  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri.  In  these  states  the  crash  affected  not  only 
city  property,  but  immense  tracts  of  government 
land  which  had  been  entered  on  speculation,  and  in 
which  millions  of  dollars  had  been  invested.  For  a 
period  of  ten  years  these  lands  found  few  buyers. 
Many  despaired  of  ever  again  finding  a  market  for 
them,  and  thousands  of  acres  were  sold  under  the 
hammer  for  the  payment  of  taxes. 

The  reader  does  not  need  to  be  informed  what 
under  the  circumstances  became  of  the  magnificent 
subscriptions  to  Illinois  College.  Most  of  them 
proved  utterly  worthless.  Little  either  of  principal 
or  interest  was  ever  paid,  and  we  were  confronted 
with  an  almost  overwhelming  disappointment.  The 
college  found  itself  with  increased  debts  and  expend- 
itures surrounded  by  a  disheartened  and  poverty^ 
stricken  community.  In  the  older  portions  of  the 
country  where  capital  is  abundant  and  exists  in  stable 
forms  the  recovery  from  such  a  collapse  is  often 
rapid,  but  in  our  region  there  was  little  real  capital. 
Our  supposed  wealth  had  no  solid  basis.  It  was  a 
creature  of  the  imagination;  a  palace  in  the  clouds. 
Under  such  circumstances  the  progress  toward  recov- 
ery was  very  slow.  From  1837  to  1847  it  was  scarcely 
perceptible.  Unoccupied  town  lots,  and  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  unimproved  lands,  were  not  projjerty  in 
its  true  sense.  They  produced  nothing  but  taxes. 
This  was  the  darkest  period  in  the  history  of  Illinois 
College.    To  conduct  it  safely  through  that  trial  was 


A  BRIGHT  PROSPECT  OVERCLOUDED  235 

the  most  difficult  task  its  trustees  and  faculty  ever 
encouutered. 

A  new  obstacle  to  the  j)rogress  of  collegiate  educa- 
tion in  this  state  had  grown  up  during  the  last  years 
of  our  supposed  prosj)erity,  in  the  excessive  multipli- 
cation of  institutions  of  learning.  A  mania  for  col- 
lege building,  which  was  the  combiijed  result  of  the 
prevalent  speculation  in  land  and  the  zeal  for  denom- 
inational aggrandizement  had  spread  all  over  the 
state.  It  was  generally  believed  that  one  of  the 
surest  ways  to  promote  the  growth  of  a  young  city 
was  to  make  it  the  seat  of  a  college.  It  was  easy  to 
approj)riate  some  of  the  best  lots  in  a  new  town  site 
to  the  university,  to  ornament  the  plat  with  an  ele- 
gant picture  of  the  buildings  "  soon  to  be  erected," 
and  to  induce  the  ambitious  leaders  of  some  religious 
body  eager  to  have  a  college  of  its  own,  to  accept  a 
land  grant,  adopt  the  institution,  and  pledge  to  it  the 
resources  of  their  denomination.  These  arrange- 
ments were  entered  into  righteously,  inconsiderately 
and  ignorantly.  The  righteousness  was  largely  on 
the  side  of  the  land  speculator,  the  religious  men  en- 
gaged in  the  enterprise  having  little  conception 
of  the  resources  necessary  to  found  a  college  worthy 
of  the  name,  or  of  the  broad  co=operation  indispen- 
sable to  its  success.  They  had  neglected  to  count 
the  cost. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  our  first  application 
for  a  charter  was  defeated.  In  1835,  the  legislature 
passed  a  bill  chartering  four  colleges,  of  which  ours 
was  one.  This  bill,  though  in  other  respects  satis- 
factory, contained  two  illiberal   limitations,  one   for- 


236  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

bidding  the  corporations  to  hold  more  than  620  acres 
of  land  each,  the  other  prohibiting  the  organization 
of  theological  departments.  Both  these  restrictions 
were  subsequently  repealed.  After  the  passage  of 
this  act  similar  charters  became  very  abundant. 

This  multiplication  of  colleges  was  exceedingly 
disastrous  to  the  interests  of  liberal  education. 
Every  denomination  must  have  its  own  institution. 
The  small  sums  of  money  which  could  be  gathered  in 
a  new  community  for  educational  purposes  and  the 
very  limited  number  of  students  prepared  to  pursue 
the  higher  branches  were  distributed  among  so  many 
so=called  colleges  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  to 
attain  a  position  worthy  of  the  name.  The  far=seeing 
friends  of  learning  became  discouraged  in  attempting 
to  found  institutions  in  communities  so  divided.  If 
any  fundamental  principles  have  been  established  by 
the  history  of  democratic  institutions,  one  of  them  is, 
that  it  is  better  to  rely  on  voluntary  action  than  on 
state  intervention,  whenever  the  former  is  adequate 
to  the  attainment  of  the  end.  The  history  and  the 
present  condition  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Williams,  Am- 
herst and  many  other  seats  of  learning  both  in  New 
England  and  out  of  it,  afPord  the  most  complete  dem- 
onstration that  the  voluntary  principle  will  accom- 
plish far  better  results  than  can  be  attained  by  insti- 
tutions under  political  control,  and  limited  in  their 
religious  teachings,  as  such  schools  must  always  be. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  we  have  failed  to  at- 
tain equal  success  because  of  our  denominational  divis- 
ions, and  have  thus  unwittingly  consented  to  divorce 
the  higher  education  from  religion.  We  wisely  sep- 
arate the  Church  from  the  State,  and   then  foolishly 


A  BRIGHT  PROSPECT  OVERCLOUDED  237 

give  over  into  the  hands  of  the  latter  the  control  of 
our  institutions  of  learning.  This  is  one  of  the  most 
bitter  fruits  of  our  sectarian  divisions — a  result  whose 
final  consequences  no  man  can  foresee. 

We  never  sought  for  Illinois  College  any  ecclesias- 
tical control,  and  would  never  have  submitted  to  it. 
We  always  desired  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  patri- 
otic, religious  men,  that  it  might  be  managed  not  for 
a  sect  in  the  Church  or  a  party  in  the  State,  but  to 
qualify  young  men  for  the  intelligent  and  efficient 
service  of  God  both  in  the  Church  and  the  State.  It 
was  never  intended  to  be  a  Presbyterian  or  a  Congre- 
gational institution,  but  a  Christian  institution 
sacredly  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Christian 
faith,  universal  freedom  and  social  order.  W^ould 
that  the  Christian  people  of  the  state  could  have 
united  with  us  in  giving  it  such  a  character  and  such 
a  far  reaching  influence  that  no  institution  founded 
by  the  state  could  have  equalled  it  in  strength  and 
efficiency. 

If  any  one  asks  why  I  did  not  resign  my  position 
when  obstacles  were  so  multiplied  around  us,  I  an- 
swer, it  was  because  I  had  an  abiding  conviction  that 
an  institution  such  as  we  were  seeking  to  establish 
was  a  jjermanent  necessity  in  the  center  of  this  great 
and  wealthy  state,  and  I  believed  that  in  some  way 
and  at  some  time  the  means  would  be  found  whereby 
our  conception  could  be  realized.  It  seemed  wrong 
to  abandon  the  field  and  sacrifice  results  already 
achieved.  I  thank  God  that  He  has  given  me  some 
tenacity  of  purpose.  It  has  always  been  very  hard 
for  me  to  abandon  an  enterprise  which  I  have  delib- 
erately undertaken. 


238  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Under  the  long  continuance  of  these  depressing 
circumstances  we  were  compelled  to  ask  help  from 
our  eastern  friends.  The  work  of  solicitation  fell 
chiefly  upon  Mr.  Beecher,  though  it  was  to  him  a 
great  and  oppressive  burden,  It  exhausted  his  vital 
energies  in  a  kind  of  labor  which  under  the  most  fav- 
orable conditions  would  have  been  distasteful  to  him, 
but  which  at  that  time  was  encompassed  with  spec- 
ial difficulties  and  embarrassments.  It  diverted  him 
from  the  sphere  of  instruction  in  which  he  delighted, 
and  almost  excluded  him  from  those  literary  and 
theological  pursuits  to  which  he  was  intensely  de- 
voted. 

To  myself  this  was  a  time  of  abiding  quietly  at 
home  and  patiently  enduring  hard  labor  performed 
under  little  stimulus  of  hope.  Still  I  was  not  un- 
happy. I  loved  to  teach,  and  was  fond  of  my  depart- 
ment of  instruction.  I  met  my  classes  from  day  to 
day  with  the  enthusiasm  of  one  full  of  his  theme,  and 
was  able  to  inspire  the  enthusiasm  of  my  pupils.  No 
man  need  ask  a  happier  home  than  I  had,  though 
the  ^^  res  angusfce  do))nis^''  were  sometimes  incon- 
venient, and  I  suspect  more  inconvenient  to  my  wife 
than  to  myself.  But  she  bore  the  inconvenience 
bravely  and  with  a  cheerful  buoyant  spirit.  We 
were  happy  in  each  other  and  happy  in  our  growing 
family  of  children.  My  reputation,  and  for  the  most 
part  my  influence,  were  confined  within  a  compara- 
tively limited  circle.  That  did  not  trouble  me.  I 
was  not  as  yet,  certainly,  ambitious  of  a  wide  rei^uta- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

GREAT  CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS. 

Before  the  summer  of  1839  we  had  no  reason  to 
complain  that  the  climate  of  Jacksonville  was  insalu- 
brious. Malarial  fever  in  those  days  had  not  been 
supi^oscd  to  be  prevalent  in  our  region,  although  I 
had  one  sharp  attack  and  a  few  other  cases  had  oc- 
curred. My  health  had  been  better  than  I  had  ever 
expected  to  enjoy,  and  my  endurance  in  the  line  of 
my  pursuits  was  greater  than  that  of  most  men,  al- 
though I  was  still  of  feeble  muscle.  In  August, 
1839,  my  wife  was  seized  with  this  terrible  fever. 
The  attack  was  severe,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  the  time  powerful  remedies  were  freely 
employed.  After  long  and  watchful  nursing  the 
fever  was  arrested,  but  complete  recovery  did  not 
follow.  When  at  last  she  was  able  to  resume  her  ac- 
customed place  in  our  home  she  continued  to  be  very 
feeble.  I  was  anxious,  but  the  physician  spoke  of 
no  danger.  Immediatly  after  our  cheerful  Christmas 
dinner  I  was  obliged  to  leave  for  Springfield  on  im- 
jjortant  college  business. 

On  New  Year's  day  I  received  intelligence  that  she 
was  worse,  and  hastened  home  as  sj^eedily  as  i3os- 
sible.  I  found  her  still  able  to  sit  up,  but  her 
deathly  joallor  and  exhausting  cough  alarmed  me. 
Her  physician  gave  me  little  encouragement.  On 
the  29th  of  January  another  son  was  born  to  us,  des- 

239 


240  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

tined  however  to  follow  his  mother  to  the  silent 
grave  when  only  six  months  old.  Hope  for  the 
mother  flashed  across  my  mind,  but  it  was  only  a 
dream.  In  a  very  few  days,  on  the  12th  of  February, 
while  a  bright  sun  was  shining,  she  called  for  a  cup 
of  tea,  and  observing  the  joy  I  manifested  at  her 
being  able  to  swallow,  she  said  with  a  glow  of  affec- 
tion as  bright  as  that  of  the  days  of  our  earliest  love: 
"  I  thought  it  would  comfort  him."  A  few  moments 
afterwards  her  lovely  features  passed  into  the  rigidity 
of  death,  and  I  saw  my  Elizabeth  no  more.  In 
dreams  I  have  often  seen  her  since,  and  once  in  \}^v- 
ticular,  in  aspect  so  radiant  that  I  cannot  forbear 
relating  the  incident. 

More  than  forty=one  years  after  her  death  I  had 
been  a  little  ill,  but  had  so  far  recovered  that  I  had 
preached  that  evening,  and  without  unusual  fatigue 
had  retired  to  rest.  In  my  dreams  Elizabeth  stood 
before  me  with  a  countenance  of  ineffable  brightness 
and  glory,  unearthly  in  her  beauty,  yet  her  identity 
was  as  perfect  as  when  we  dwelt  together  in  the 
flesh.  She  called  to  me,  and  then  said  distinctly: 
"  I  never  loved  you  so  much  before."  She  then  ap- 
proached and  embraced  me.  I  tried  to  answer,  but 
in  the  intensity  of  my  effort  I  awoke  and  the  bright 
vision  had  vanished.  I  found  myself  in  a  state  of 
most  intense  excitement,  and  a  trembling  had  seized 
my  whole  body.  It  was  several  minutes  before  I  re- 
covered my  comiaosure.  I  build  no  theory  on  all 
this,  for  it  was  but  a  dream  and  as  a  dream  I  let  it 
i^ass,  yet  it  made  uj)on  my  mind  an  ineffaceable  im- 
jjression,  and  left  with  me  an  abiding  hope  that 
when  I  am  no  longer  able  to  look  upon  this  world 


GREAT  CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS  211 

with  bodily  senses,  I  shall  meet  her  in  like  angelic 
brightness,  and  with  like  assurances  of  undying 
affection. 

When  she  left  me,  however,  there  was  no  such  an- 
gelic vision.  I  was  oppressed  with  unutterable  sorrow. 
The  brightness  of  that  winter  day  quickly  passed 
like  all  earth's  joys.  The  sky  was  overclouded,  rain 
and  sleet  followed  in  the  night,  and  the  moaniiigs 
of  the  temijest  without  were  in  solemn  harmony  with 
the  sorrows  within  my  soul.  Two  days  afterward,  in 
the  face  of  a  cutting  wind  and  under  frowning  skies, 
we  laid  her  to  rest  uj)on  the  snow  clad  prairie  beside 
the  little  infant  whose  death  she  had  mourned  so  ten- 
derly. I  wonder  if  most  persons  in  the  first  agony  of 
such  a  sorrow  experience  the  same  difficulty  as  my- 
self in  appropriating  to  themselves  the  ordinary  relig- 
ious consolations.  I  was  told,  for  example,  "  You 
should  rejoice  for  her  sake.  Your  loss  is  indeed 
great,  but  great  as  it  is,  her  gain  is  far  greater."  My 
sober  judgment  told  me  that  this  was  true,  but  I 
found  it  imj)ossible  to  draw  consolation  from  it.  I 
could  not  then  conceive  how  she  could  be  happy  any- 
where far  awaj'  from  her  lonely  and  sorrowing  hus- 
band and  children.  Ultimately  my  mind  accepted 
that  view;  but  for  the  jaresent  there  was  only  one 
consoling  thought.  It  was  the  assurance  of  the  un- 
failing kindness,  wisdom  and  love  of  a  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther. I  opened  not  my  mouth  because  God  had 
done  it. 

My  cup  of  sorrow  seemed  full,  but  another  great 
affliction  was  in  store  for  me.  My  oldest  surviving 
child  bore  the  name  of  her  dear  dejjarted  mother,  and 
was  as  beautiful  in  person  as  she  was  gentle  and  lov- 


242  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

iiig.  She  was  the  light  of  our  home,  and  I  may  say 
of  the  neighborhood.  She  was  scarcely  eight  years 
of  age  when  her  mother  died,  and  though  childlike  in 
bearing  and  spirit  she  was  mature  in  character.  Noth- 
ing could  give  her  so  much  happiness  as  to  do  some- 
thing to  cheer  and  comfort  her  father.  A  little  more 
than  nine  months  after  her  mother's  death,  during 
which  time  she  enjoyed  perfect  health  and  grew  daily 
in  loveliness,  she  was  taken  ill  while  her  aunt  was 
preparing  her  for  church.  The  progress  of  her  dis- 
ease was  rapid  and  irresistible,  and  on  the  next  Thurs- 
day, after  much  suffering  she  followed  her  dear 
mother  to  the  unseen  world. 

How  i^recious  after  they  are  gone,  is  the  memory 
of  such  dear  ones  so  full  of  health  and  life  and  beauty, 
of  wisdom  and  tender  love.  When  reason  ultimately 
triumphs  over  the  first  agonies  of  bereavement  we 
devoutly  thank  God  that  we  have  loved  and  been 
loved  by  dear  ones,  so  bright,  so  pure  and  so  true. 
Such  loveliness  cannot  die.  It  is  only  transplanted 
to  the  garden  of  God.  My  heart  moves  me  to  attempt 
a  pen  portrait  of  the  noble  woman  who  for  more  than 
ten  years  was  the  joy  of  my  heart  and  my  home,  my 
ever  trustworthy  helper  and  adviser.  She  was  worthy 
of  the  "  monumentum  oereperennius.''''  But  no  words 
of  mine  can  do  her  justice.  God  will  take  care  of  her 
precious  memory  and  her  still  more  precious  self.  In 
my  view  her  noble  crown  of  perfected  womanhood 
far  outshines  all  the  honors  ever  won  by  the  achieve- 
ments of  genius  and  eloquence. 

My  friend  Mr.  Baldwin,  having  accomplished  his 
mission  for  the  college  at  the  east,  married  the  Miss 
Wilder   who   has   already   been   mentioned  in  these 


GREAT  CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SOBBOWS  243 

pages  and  returned,  in  1832,  to  this  state  and  to  the 
work  of  exploration  and  church=building  in  the  serv- 
ices of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 
In  this  work  he  was  assisted  by  our  mutual  friend 
Rev  Albert  Hale,  also  one  of  the  New  Haven  Band 
and  well  known  for  many  years  as  the  devoted  and 
successful  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Springfield,  only  thirty^five  miles  from  Jackson- 
ville. The  missionary  tours  of  these  two  brethren 
extended  from  the  Ohio  river  to  the  northern  bor- 
der of  the  state,  and  their  good  results  continue  to 
this  day.  About  the  year  1837  or  '38  that  generous 
l^hilanthropist  Benjamin  Godfrey  of  Alton,  erected 
in  the  neighborhood  of  that  city  the  welbknown 
Monticello  Female  Seminary,  and  invited  Mr.  Baldwin 
to  become  its  x^rincipal.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Baldwin  were 
admirably  adapted  to  the  work  which  was  thus  opened 
to  them,  and  entered  into  it  with  great  enthusiasm. 
He  continued  to  be  a  trustee  of  Illinois  College,  and 
freely  employed  his  time  and  gave  his  wise  counsel 
in  its  interest.  We  maintained  an  active  correspond- 
ence, in  which  all  questions  of  public  interest  were 
freely  discussed.  But  one  thing  deters  me  from 
drawing  largely  upon  that  correspondence  in  prepar- 
ing these  iDages.  We  freely  discussed  persons  as  well 
as  measures  and  the  letters  are  therefore  in  many 
instances  too  personal  for  the  public  eye. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  of  my  life  in  Illinois 
the  disastrous  divisions  of  the  religious  community 
had  forced  upon  my  attention  the  subject  of  church 
government.  At  first  the  subject  was  not  often 
mentioned  in  our  correspondence,  because  I  was 
aware  that  it  did  not  weigh  upon  his  mind  as  it  did 


244  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

upon  my  own.  But  as  time  passed,  my  convictions 
on  this  subject  grew  more  and  more  intense.  The 
proverb,  "  Out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh  ?  "  is  as  true  in  my  case  as  in  that  of  most 
men,  and  a  theme  of  such  deej)  interest  and  practical 
importance  naturally  influenced  my  conversation 
with  my  friends.  After  a  time  many  tongued  rumor 
spread  abroad  the  insinuation  that  my  thinking  was 
wild,  erratic  and  dangerous.  Many  of  my  friends 
became  alarmed  for  me,  and  my  enemies,  of  whom  I 
had  some  new  ones  since  the  organization  of  the 
Congregational  church  in  Jacksonville,  thought  that 
they  had  found  an  occasion  against  me.  The  story 
soon  reached  Mr.  Baldwin's  ears.  He  did  not  hesitate 
to  rejDort  it  back  to  me  at  once  and  to  warn  me  very 
kindly  of  the  danger  to  which  he  thought  me  exposed. 
His  fears  were  excited  not  so  much  lest  I  should  fall 
into  dangerous  error,  as  that  I  should  weaken  the 
confidence  of  the  public  in  my  soundness  and  injure 
the  reputation  of  the  college.  His  letter  opened  the 
whole  subject  in  our  correspondence. 

In  the  course  of  the  corresi^ondence  I  proposed  to 
meet  all  criticism  by  publishing  a  full  and  frank  state- 
ment of  my  ecclesiastical  opinions,  but  Mr.  Baldwin 
wisely  urged  that  such  a  statement  at  that  time  would 
be  misunderstood  and  misrepresented.  I  therefore 
prepared  a  careful  and  candid  statement  for  his  use 
and  requested  him  to  show  it  to  some  judicious  friends 
both  here  and  at  the  East.  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to 
say  that  the  views  so  stated  were  so  satisfactory  to 
him  and  to  other  friends  that  all  apprehension  on 
their  part  was  allayed  and  my  intimate  friendship 


GREAT  CHAXGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS  215 

with  Mr.  Baldwin  was  placed  upon  a  sure  foundation 
for  the  rest  of  our  lives. 

While  this  corresi3ondence  was  in  progress  I  was 
unexpectedly  called  to  take  part  in  a  transaction 
whose  results  seemed  to  be  far  more  important  than 
any  of  the  particij)ants  suiDposed. 

From  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  Jackson- 
ville the  people  known  as  "Disciples,"  the  followers 
of  Alexander  Campbell  of  Bethany,  Virginia,  were 
very  active.  They  were  then  regarded  with  much 
distrust  by  other  denominations,  and  in  fact  were 
scarcely  considered  an  evangelical  body.  Having 
occasion  to  sx)end  a  night  a  few  miles  from  Jackson- 
ville, at  a  house  of  entertainment  kept  by  a  prominent 
member  of  this  body,  I  was  invited  by  him  to  i^reach 
on  some  Sabbath  before  long,  in  the  church  near  his 
house.  As  it  was  my  practice  to  embrace  every 
opportunity  to  preach  the  gospel  I  accepted  the  invi- 
tation, leaving  it  to  him  to  fix  the  day.  After  some 
delay  the  appointment  was  announced.  On  reaching 
the  place  on  the  appointed  day  I  found  a  large  meet- 
ing of  the  Disciples  in  progress  and  several  of  their 
prominent  preachers  in  attendance.  The  great 
congregation  gave  close  attention  to  my  discourse. 
It  would  appear  that  my  utterances  on  that  occasion 
were  orthodox,  since  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  after 
listening  to  the  same  sermon,  delivered  two  or  three 
years  later  in  his  church  in  Cincinnati,  cheered 
me  at  its  close  by  exclaiming  in  his  characteristic 
manntr,  "That's  right!'' 

When  I  promised  to  preach  for  the  Disciples  it  did 
not   occur   to  me  that  the  question  of  joining  with 


246  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

them  in  the  communion  service  was  also  involved. 
But  since  it  is  the  invariable  custom  of  that  denomi- 
nation to  follow  the  Sabbath  morning  discourse  with 
the  observance  of  the  Supper,  I  i)erceived  the  moment 
I  entered  the  church  that  I  must  face  that  question. 
There  was  not  much  time  to  think.  Nor  did  I  see 
much  reason  to  hesitate.  These  people  had  been 
listening  with  profound  and  reverential  attention  to 
what  I  believed  to  be  the  gospel.  I  saw  no  reason  to 
doubt  that  they  received  it  intelligently  and  sincerely, 
and  I  could  not  refuse  to  join  with  them  in  breaking 
bread  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  I  am  bound  to 
say  that  I  have  seldom  witnessed  a  more  reverent  and 
devout  observance  of  that  rite.  At  the  close  of  the 
service  strong  men  with  whom  I  was  acquainted  in 
business  relations  but  whom  I  had  never  before  met 
in  Christian  worship,  sang  "  Rock  of  ages  cleft  for  me," 
with  tears  rolling  down  their  cheeks.  I  could  say 
with  Peter,  "  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons."  God  taught  me  that  day  to  beware  how  I  ■ 
called  any  body  of  professed  Christians  "common  or 
unclean." 

The  report  of  my  doings  on  that  Sabbath  startled 
the  community,  the  story  could  not  have  been  circu- 
lated with  greater  rapidity  or  repeated  with  more 
emi^hasis  had  I  committed  an  infamous  crime.  A 
few  defended  my  action,  but  most  of  my  good  neigh- 
bors were  shocked,  and  especially  those  who  had 
been  offended  by  my  sympathy  with  the  Congrega- 
tional movement.  I  had  no  remedy  but  to  wait  till 
Christian'  common  sense  should  revive  and  reassert 
itself.  I  had  not  long  to  wait.  In  my  judgment,  no 
other  event  ever  did  so  much  to  break  down  in  this 


GREAT  CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS  247 

community  unchristian  barriers  around  the  Lord's 
supper.  Men  soon  began  to  understand  the  true 
meaning  of  Paul's  words:  "  Let  a  man  examine  him- 
self, and  so  let  him  eat  of  that  bread,  and  drink  of 
that  cup."  By  a  providential  coincidence  the  tables 
were  soon  turned  in  respect  to  my  relation  to  the 
Disciples.  Among  our  early  preachers  in  that  vicini- 
ty were  some  whose  teachings  seemed  to  most  of  us 
to  justify  the  severe  things  which  had  been  said  of 
the  denomination.  Not  long  after  the  incidents  just 
related  a  man  of  this  character  became  consijicuous 
among  them.  Many  of  his  utterances  seemed  to 
sober-minded  Christian  peojile  really  horrible.  Some 
peox^le  were,  of  course,  so  absurd  as  to  assume  that 
because  I  had  recently  "  communed  "  with  members 
of  that  denomination  I  could  be  held  in  some  sense 
responsible  for  his  teachings.  Partly  for  this  reason, 
and  partly  impelled  by  my  own  horror  of  his  almost 
blasphemous  doctrines,  I  began  openly  and  earnestly 
to  preach  against  his  views,  and  endeavored  to  expose 
them  by  fair  and  lucid  arguments.  These  discourses 
were  received  with  enthusiasm. 

Before  many  weeks  an  invitation  came  to  hold  ser- 
vice in  a  neighborhood  a  few  miles  distant  where  I 
had  never  preached  and  where  the  Disciples  were 
numerous  and  aggressive.  I  knew  the  meaning  of 
the  invitation,  and  without  the  least  hesitation 
accepted  it.  I  found  it  convenient  to  spend  the  Sat- 
urday night  previous  to  filling  that  api)ointment  with 
an  acquaintance  in  the  same  neighborhood,  a  member 
of  a  distant  Presbyterian  church.  In  anticipation  of 
my  coming  he  had  appointed  a  prayer-meeting  for 
that  evening  at  his  house.     Among  the  persons  who 


§48  JULIAN  M.  STUBTEVANT 

assembled  came  the  erratic  preacher  whose  strange 
teachings  had  aroused  all  this  storm.  Perceiving 
that  he  would  probably  be  among  my  auditors  on  the 
morrow  I  asked  myself  the  question,  "  Shall  I  go  on,  as 
Iliad  intended,  to  assail  his  shocking  doctrines?  "  I 
felt  that  I  ought  to  do  it  and  to  make  as  thorough  work 
of  it  as  jjossible.  The  meeting  next  morning  was  held 
under  the  shade  of  overhanging  trees  and  a  great 
multitude,  consisting  mostly  of  Disciples,  Methodists 
and  regular  Baptists  listened  with  what  seemed  to  me 
remarkable  attention  to  my  argument  which  lasted  for 
two  hours  and  a  half.  I  saw  no  sign  of  impatience  at 
its  length.  Perhaps  the  most  attentive  auditor  was 
the  preacher  of  "  strange  doctrines,"  and  when  I  had 
finished  he  gave  notice  that  he  would  reply  at  the 
same  place  in  the  afternoon  and  invited  me  to  be  pres- 
ent. I  said  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  do 
so,  as  a  i)i"evious  engagement  obliged  me  to  return 
home  immediately.  As  might  have  been  expected 
that  man  rapidly  declined  in  influence  among  his 
former  supporters.  Nor  did  the  transaction  XDermanent- 
ly  disturb  my  own  most  friendly  relations  with  the 
Disciples,  which  have  continued  till  this  day.  It  is 
my  belief  that  no  portion  of  the  religious  community 
around  us  has  grown  in  grace  more  rapidly  than  that 
denomination.  If  my  efPorts  have  in  any  degree  con- 
tributed to  that  end  I  am  thankful.  I  ascribe  their 
remarkable  progress  to  the  fact  that  from  the  begin- 
ning they  have  consistently  held  that,  "  The  Word  of 
God  only  is  the  rule  of  our  faith." 

From  1837  onward  the  financial  embarrassments  of 
the  college  increased.  Both  the  impoverished  condi- 
tion of  the  community   and   our   religious  divisions 


GREAT  CHANGES  AXD  GREAT  SORROWS  ^4d 

rendered  it  impossible  to  secure  much  aid  in  our 
own  neighborhood.  If  relief  came  at  all  it  must  come 
from  distant  friends.  Under  the  circumstances  the 
thought  occurred  to  Mr.  Baldwin  that  the  work  of 
raising  funds  for  collegiate  education  in  the  West 
might  with  advantage  be  committed  to  an  association 
or  committee  residing  in  the  East.  This  suggestion 
seemed  the  more  timely  and  important  since  five  other 
institutions  of  learning  in  the  West  were  in  conditions 
painfully  similar  to  our  own.  Indeed  the  greatest 
difiiculty  in  raising  funds  east  at  that  time  arose  from 
the  seemingly  rival  claims  of  sister  institutions.  In 
April,  1848,  a  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  West- 
ern Reserve,  Marietta,  Wabash,  Beloit,  and  Illinois 
Colleges,  and  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  was  held 
at  the  last  named  institution  for  the  i^urpose  of  decid- 
ing on  the  expediency  of  forming  such  an  association. 
At  that  meeting  I  represented  Illinois  College.  Most 
of  the  institutions  sent  delegates,  and  the  formation 
of  such  an  organization  was  after  free  and  full  discus- 
sion unanimously  approved.  All  the  institutions  ulti- 
mately acceiDted  the  arrangement.  The  Society  for 
Promoting  Collegiate  and  Theological  Education  at 
the  West  was  dulj^  organized,  and  Mr.  Baldwin  was 
invited  to  become  its  secretary,  to  reside  in  or  near 
New  York.  He  accepted  this  position  after  long  and 
painful  deliberation,  though  at  a  great  sacrifice  to 
himself  and  family. 

I  spent  the  week  during  the  sessions  of  this  body 
of  delegates  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher. 
In  addition  to  his  duties  as  Professor  of  Theology  in 
Lane  Seminary  he  was  pastor  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian  Church  of  Cincinnati.     Owing  to  illness   he 


250  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

was  unable  to  preach  the  following  Sunday,  and  I 
was  i3ersuaded  to  remain  and  supply  his  pulpit.  On 
Sabbath  he  accompanied  us  to  church,  telling  me 
however  that  I  must  preach  and  also  administer  the 
Lord's  Supper,  as  he  was  unable  to  speak.  Before 
dismissing  the  congregation  I  asked  him  in  a  low 
tone  if  he  felt  able  to  say  a  few  words.  Arising  as  if 
relieved  by  the  opportunity,  he  poured  forth  from 
his  overflowing  soul  for  nearly  half  an  hour,  the 
most  magnificent  strain  of  evangelic  eloquence  I 
have  ever  heard. 

During  the  evening  of  that  day  I  had  a  long  and 
very  familiar  conversation  with  the  venerable  patri- 
arch, in  the  course  of  which  I  ventured  to  ask  how 
he  acquired  that  perfectly  easy  and  natural  tone  that 
invariably  characterized  his  delivery.  He  replied  in- 
stantly, "I  didn't  acquire  it,  for  I  always  had  it." 
Just  so;  " poeta  nascitur  nonfit.^''  To  me  it  is  an  oc- 
casion of  devout  gratitude  that  I  have  known  such  a 
man  so  intimately.  During  all  his  residence  in  the 
West  he  favored  Presbyterianism.  Several  times  on 
meeting  him  after  a  long  separation  almost  his  first 
question  would  be:  "How  are  you  getting  on  with 
those  rabid  Congregationalists  in  Illinois?"  My 
ready  reply,  "  We  should  get  along  well  enough  with 
the  rabid  Congregationalists  if  it  were  not  for  the 
rabid  Presbyterians,"  was  always  received  with  the 
utmost  good  nature.  After  he  returned  to  the  East, 
he  had  little  difficulty  in  finding  out  where  he 
belonged.  His  great  heart  was  with  the  freedom  of 
Congregationalism. 

Other  great  changes  took  place  on  College  Hill. 
One  of  them  was  in  my  own  house.     As  the  reader  is 


Hannah  Richards  Sturtevant 


GREAT   CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS  251 

already  informed,  the  same  sad  year  which  removed 
from  me  the  wife  of  my  youth  removed  also  two  of 
our  children.  There  remained  two  sons,  one  six 
years  old  and  the  other  four,  and  a  daughter  of  two 
years.  I  did  not  then,  and  still  less  do  I  now,  sub- 
scribe to  the  doctrine  that  a  man  thus  loainfully  be- 
reaved at  the  age  of  thirty=four  best  honors  the  mem- 
ory of  the  departed  by  remaining  unmarried.  The 
sweet  remembrance  of  years  of  conjugal  happiness  is 
not  a  preparation  for  a  life  of  loneliness. 

Hannah  Richards  Fayerweather,  the  youngest  sis- 
ter of  the  dej)arted  one,  had  been  a  constant  member 
of  my  family  from  a  i^eriod  prior  to  the  birth  of  my 
eldest  surviving  child.  She  had  shared  with  her 
older  sister  the  cares  and  burdens  of  rearing  them 
all,  and  from  the  time  of  their  mother's  death  had 
taken,  as  far  as  might  be,  the  mother's  iDlace.  It 
seemed  that  nothing  could  be  so  well  for  me  and  my 
children  as  that  she  should  become  the  wife  and  the 
mother.  Accordingly  on  the  third  of  March,  1841, 
we  were  married,  and  experience  has  abundantly  jus- 
tified the  wisdom  of  the  step. 

A  discussion  which  arose  in  connection  with  this 
marriage  introduced  me  to  a  new  field  of  public  ac- 
tivity. At  that  time,  and  I  believe  even  now  under 
the  rules  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  limitations 
of  inter^marriage  are  the  same  for  persons  whose  con- 
nection is  by  affinity  as  for  those  who  are  connected 
by  consanguinity.  This  rule  is  understood  to  pro- 
hibit marriage  with  the  sister  of  a  deceased  wife. 
When  I  informed  my  friend  President  Beecher  that 
I  wished  him  to  officiate  in  such  a  marriage  he  inti- 
mated that  he  had  no  objection  to  the  proposed  ar- 


252  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

rangement  if  my  conscience  was  clear  on  it,  but  that 
he  regarded  such  a  marriage  as  contrary  to  the  scrip- 
tural rule.  He  stated  his  reasons  for  that  opinion 
and  I,  after  taking  time  for  reflection,  replied  to 
them.  After  reconsidering  the  matter  he  cheerfully 
consented  to  perform  the  ceremony.  I  had  from  the 
first  no  doubts  on  the  subject. 

Only  two  or  three  months  after  our  marriage  the 
celebrated  McQueen  case  came,  by  appeal  from  the 
lower  courts,  before  the  General  Assembly  for  final 
adjudication.  The  trial  was  long  and  tedious,  and  as 
it  seemed  to  me  the  argument  for  the  prosecution 
was  utterly  weak  and  fallacious.  Neither  my  con- 
science nor  my  social  relations  were  in  the  least  dis- 
turbed, but  I  keenly  felt  that  in  deposing  McQueen 
from  the  ministry  for  marrying  the  sister  of  his  de- 
ceased wife  the  Assembly  had  committed  a  great  and 
cruel  wrong,  and  that  he  had  been  unrighteously 
prosecuted  and  very  weakly  defended.  I  was  confi- 
dent that  it  could  be  triumphantly  shown  that  what- 
ever the  Presbyterian  law  might  be,  there  was  no  di- 
vine law  against  him.  I  wrote  out  my  argument  in 
the  case  and  published  it  in  the  Biblical  Repository, 
then  edited  by  the  Rev.  Absalom  Peters  D.  D.,  for- 
merly secretary  of  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.  The  general  favor  with  which  that  article 
was  received  greatly  encouraged  me  to  contribute  to 
the  periodical  j)ress,  and  my  contributions  have  since 
been  almost  voluminous;  to  the  Biblical  Repository; 
The  New  Englander;  The  Congregational  Review; 
The  Continental  Monthly;  The  Princeton  Review, 
and  several  of  the  leading  religious  weeklies.  Pre- 
vious to  writing  the  article  mentioned  I    had  little 


GREAT  CHANGES  AND  GREAT  SORROWS  253 

ambition  for  authorship.  I  cannot  dismiss  this  topic 
without  remarking  how  powerless  among  intelligent 
Protestants  is  ecclesiastical  law  when  clearly  shown 
to  be  unsustained  by  the  Word  of  God.  About  the 
time  of  the  McQueen  case  some  of  the  ablest  and 
most  influential  men  in  the  Presbyterian  ministry 
notoriously  violated  that  law  without  their  action 
ever  being  called  in  question. 

In  the  spring  of  1842  President  Beecher  found  the 
pressure  upon  the  college  finances  so  severe  that, 
with  the  consent  of  the  trustees,  he  determined  to 
remove  to  the  East  with  his  family  in  the  hoi^e  that, 
being  constantly  on  the  ground,  he  might  find  there 
some  effectual  means  of  relief.  This  step  proved  the 
beginning  of  a  very  great  change.  President  Beech- 
er and  his  family  had  been  for  ten  years  a  very  im- 
portant factor  in  the  life  of  the  college  and  in  the  so- 
ciety of  Jacksonville.  It  was  largely  owing  to  the 
presence  of  that  family  that  there  had  existed  about 
the  college  a  social  circle  which  might  well  be  called 
brilliant.  Our  style  of  living  was  plain  and  frugal, 
and  nothing  of  the  brilliancy  associated  with  fash- 
ionable gayety  and  extravagant  folly  attached  to  our 
circle.  Genuine  culture  enlivened  by  eminent  x)ow- 
ers  of  conversation  we  did  have.  Music  and  spon- 
taneous outbursts  of  wit  and  innocent  mirthfulness, 
accompanied  by  refined  tastes  and  a  love  for  the  beau- 
tiful, gave  an  unusual  charm  to  those  days.  To  this 
the  frequent  and  sometimes  protracted  presence  with 
us  of  different  members  of  the  "  Beecher  family " 
very  largely  contributed. 

To  this  day  I  can  almost  hear  the  ringing  laugh  of 
Catherine  E.  Beecher      I  am  still  refreshed  by  the 


254  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

quickness  and  pungency  of  her  wit  and  her  charming 
voice  in  song.  Her  gifts  could  be  fully  appreciated 
only  by  those  who  had  been  favored  with  her  intimate 
acquaintance.  In  social  life  her  words  were  winged 
arrows  of  gold.  The  man  who  ventured  to  debate 
with  her  on  any  question  on  which  she  had  thought, 
and  she  never  would  debate  on  any  other,  needed  to 
be  well  equipped.  No  one  will  ever  forget  'Charles 
Beecher,  who  mingled  in  those  scenes,  or  his  violin. 
Thomas  K.  Beecher  spent  several  years  with  us  as  a 
student  and  received  his  diploma  at  my  hands.  But 
there  were  others  in  our  faculty  who  had  contributed 
their  full  share  to  the  charm  of  those  days.  Truman 
M.  Post,  Jonathan  B.  Turner  and  Samuel  Adams 
were  men  who  would  call  out  the  brightest  and  best 
thoughts  of  any  circle  in  which  they  mingled.  The 
removal  of  President  Beecher  and  his  family  was  an 
irreparable  blow  to  Jacksonville  both  socially  and 
religiously. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

NEW  RELATIONS. 

The  events  which  followed  Mr.  Beecher's  change 
of  residence  were  of  great  importance  both  to  him 
and  to  the  college.  The  muchneeded  iDecuniary  aid 
for  the  college  could  not  be  obtained  at  once.  He 
liecame  more  and  more  interested  in  the  literary  and 
theological  inc^uiries  towards  which  his  attention  had 
long  been  directed,  and  felt  the  need  of  the  libraries 
of  the  East  in  the  pursuit  of  his  studies.  He  could 
not  hoije  to  do  justice  to  himself  in  bringing  the  re- 
sults of  his  investigations  before  the  public  while  he 
continued  to  carry  the  great  burdens  of  the  strug- 
gling college.  Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1844, 
having  received  an  invitation  to  the  pastorate  of  the 
Salem  Street  Church,  Boston,  he  sent  his  resignation 
to  the  trustees  and  accepted  the  call. 

The  selection  of  President  Beecher's  successor 
proved  a  difficult  problem  and  occasioned  something 
akin  to  a  collision  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  re- 
ligious parties  nearest  the  institution.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  the  use  of  my  name  in  connection  with 
the  position  was  not  the  result  of  any  effort  on  my 
part.  The  correspondence  between  Mr.  Baldwin  and 
myself  was  maintained  at  this  time  with  even  greater 
frequency  and  freedom  than  usual,  and  was  not  in 
the  least  disturbed  by  the  fact  that  both  our  names 
were  urged  for  the  position.     I  believe  the  under- 

255 


256  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

standing  between  us  was  perfect,  and  that  each  felt 
sure  that  there  was  no  selfish  ambition  in  the  other's 
heart.  I  repeatedly  assured  him  that  I  was  quite 
content  to  serve  the  college  in  the  position  I  then 
held,  and  should  be  well  pleased  with  his  election  to 
the  presidency  I  was  the  more  ready  to  take  this 
position  because  I  wished  to  avoid  an  occasion  which 
would  call  into  active  expression  any  opposition 
which  individuals  might  fgel  to  my  suj^posed  relig- 
ious views  and  principles.  If  my  opinions  about  the 
Church,  the  Lord's  Supper  and  kindred  toxDics  were 
again  brought  before  the  community  I  must  be  true 
to  my  convictions  and  defend  myself.  But  I  wished 
to  avoid  controversy.  I  desired  to  preach,  in  the  col- 
lege and  out  of  it,  with  whatever  power  I  jDossessed, 
"  rej)entance  toward  God  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  and  if  possible,  to  avoid  discussions  which 
would  disturb  the  water  in  which  I  sought  to  fish  for 
men. 

The  July  meeting  of  our  Board  of  Trustees,  after  a 
discussion  of  candidates,  adjourned  till  the  last  week 
in  November  without  taking  any  definite  action.  The 
postponement  seemed  unfortunate,  since  it  left  room 
for  those  personalities  which  I  had  deprecated.  Re- 
turning late  in  November  from  New  England,  where 
I  had  been  busy  for  four  months  in  the  interest  of 
the  college,  I  found  our  community  in  a  state  of  un- 
usual excitement. 

At  the  October  meeting  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois 
attention  had  been  called  to  the  alleged  prevalence  of 
transcendental  opinions  in  Illinois  College,  and  to 
the  rumor  that  some  of  the  professors  were  responsi- 


NEW  RELATIONS  257 

ble  for  it.  The  persons  accused  were  not  present, 
and  I,  though  a  member  of  Synod,  had  received  no 
notice  of  the  intended  attack.  The  Synod,  although 
no  ecclesiastical  body  had  ever  been  invited  to  exer- 
cise visitorial  powers  in  the  institution,  appointed  a 
committee  to  attend  a  meeting  of  our  board  and  in- 
quire into  the  truth  of  these  rumors.  The  committee 
consisted  of  Rev.  Hugh  Barr,  of  Carrolton,  Dr.  A.  T. 
Norton,  of  Alton,  and  Dr.  J.  J.  Marks,  of  Quincy. 

At  the  November  meeting  the  two  first  named  came 
before  the  board  bearing  a  list  of  the  rumors  in  circu- 
lation to  the  detriment  of  the  college,  prepared  by  Dr. 
Marks.  They  were  courteously  received  and  it  was 
arranged  that  they  should  meet  the  faculty  in  the 
jjresence  of  the  l)oard.  At  that  meeting  frank  state- 
ments were  mude  by  the  professors,  and  questions 
were  invited  and  freely  asked.  At  the  same  time  the 
professors  were  requested  to  prepare  careful  accounts 
of  their  theological  and  ecclesiastical  views  for  the  use 
of  the  Prudential  Committee.  These  statements  were 
copied  and  sent  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  and  through  his  kind 
efforts  were  reviewed  by  some  of  the  leading  thinkers 
of  New  England.  I  have  now  before  me  the  com- 
ments of  Dr.  Bacon,  of  New  Haven,  and  President 
Hopkins  ui)on  those  documents,  each  of  them  heartily 
endorsing  the  western  professors. 

The  friends  of  the  college  were  not  well  j)leased 
with  the  subsequent  action  of  the  Synod  of  Illinois 
in  respect  to  these  rumors.  When  that  body  met  at 
Springfield  in  1845  the  Committee  on  Illinois  Col- 
lege had  no  report  to  make.  Considering  the  cur- 
rency  given   to   injurious  reports  by  their  appoint- 


258  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ment,  and  the  abundant  facilities  for  investigation 
furnished  them,  we  felt  that  we  should  have  been 
either  vindicated  or  condemned. 

After  a  long  and  painful  discussion  in  which  I  was 
constrained  to  bear  some  part,  the  Synod  unanimous- 
ly adopted  the  following  minutes: 

"Whereas,  the  committee  appointed  to  make  certain  inquiries 
relative  to  Illinois  College  have  made  no  report,  and  whereas 
we  are  informed  that  the  matters  in  question  are  engaging  the 
attention  of  the  trustees  of  the  college,  therefore 

Resolved,  that  the  Synod  dismiss  the  subject,  while  they  wish 
it  understood  that  the  Synod  have  preferred  no  charges  and 
they  do  not  endorse  any  of  the  rumors  unfavorably  affecting  the 
college, 

Resolved,  that  the  Synod  have  reason  to  believe,  and  do  most 
earnestly  pray  that  the  board  of  trustees  and  faculty  in  their 
united  capacity  may  and  will  go  forward  in  the  great  work  of 
literary  and  Christian  education  to  which  they  are  called  to  the 
full  satisfaction  of  the  friends  of  education." 

But  I  must  return  to  the  November  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  trustees.  On  the  day  following  the  confer- 
ence with  the  Synodical  committee  the  board  (one 
member  having  been  excused  at  his  own  request 
from  voting)  unanimously  elected  me  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  college.  At  that  time  there  were  only 
three  Congregationalists  in  the  Board,  and  one  of 
them,  Rev.  Asa  Turner,  was  absent,  having  sent  in 
his  resignation.  My  election  was  not  therefore  the 
triumph  of  one  church  over  others. 

The  delicacy  of  the  situation  had  of  course  pre- 
vented me  from  conversing  with  the  students  about 
the  election  of  a  president,  and  I  was  not  aware  that 
there  was  any  general  enthusiasm  for  my  election 
among  them.  But  soon  after  dark  that  evening  the 
college  bell  rang  merrily  and  I  was  summoned  to  the 


NEW  HIlLATIOSS  259 

front  of  the  building,  to  find  every  window  brilliantly 
illuminated.  The  lights  in  the  fourth  story  had  been 
ingeniously  arranged  to  s^Dell  my  name,  the  fourteen 
windows  giving  just  room  for  a  window  to  each  letter 
and  the  two  periods  after  the  initial  letters  J.  and  M. 
The  slope  between  the  college  and  the  town  and  the 
very  wide  i)rairie  beyond  was  then  almost  devoid  of 
trees  and  the  illumination  could  thus  be  seen  for  a  great 
distance.  I  was  greeted  with  a  great  burst  of  applause 
and  returned  to  my  house  astonished,  bewildered  and 
humbled.  I  felt  myself  utterly  unworthy  of  such 
demonstrations.  After  carefully  considering  the 
matter  for  about  two  weeks  I  determined  to  accept 
the  ijosition;  for  while  the  difficulties  of  the  situation 
arose  before  me  in  appalling  magnitude,  and  I  was 
almost  overcome  by  the  conviction  of  my  own  insuf- 
ficiency for  the  trust,  I  did  not  dare  in  view  of  all 
the  known  factors  of  the  j)roblem  to  refuse. 

The  trustees  had  elected  me  to  the  presidency  with 
the  understanding  that  I  would  with  it  undertake 
the  professorshiij  of  Mental  and  Moral  Science,  in 
place  of  the  chair  I  had  previously  occupied. 

This  arrangement  was  entirely  satisfactory  to  me; 
for  though  I  had  greatly  enjoyed  teaching  mathemat- 
ics and  j)hysics,  I  had  also  a  growing  interest  in  the 
new  department,  and  entered  upon  it  with  zeal  and 
hoj)efulness.  If  my  new  position  had  not  involved 
such  great  burdens  with  respect  to  the  finances  of 
the  institution  it  would  have  been  all  that  I  could 
have  desired.  Even  with  that  drawback  it  has 
brought  me  great  happiness  for  many  years.  Even  in 
my  old  age  I  have  resigned  the  work  of  teaching 
mental  and  moral  science  with  great  regret. 


260  JULIAN  If.  STURTEVANT 

111  one  respect  my  financial  responsibilities  brought 
substantial  advantages.  Between  the  years  1835  and 
1844,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  visits  to  St.  Louis, 
Chicago  and  other  places  in  the  region,  made  for  the 
purpose  of  performing  ministerial  services,  my  life 
had  been  almost  wholly  confined  to  "  College  Hill." 
When  in  the  latter  year  I  was  called  East,  words  can- 
not express  how  bright  and  beautiful  the  outside 
world  appeared  to  me,  and  especially  Xew  England 
where  I  spent  the  summer  and  Autumn.  Xine  years 
among  the  monotonous  scenery  of  Illinois,  not  then 
adorned  as  it  now  is  by  the  work  of  the  architect  and 
the  landscape  gardener,  prepared  me  to  revisit,  with 
great  delight,  the  varied  scenery  to  which  I  had  been 
accustomed  in  my  childhood  and  in  my  youth 
Traveling  that  summer  along  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  and  across  the  southern  part  of  Xl-w 
Hampshire,  and  spending  some  time  in  the  charming 
suburbs  of  Boston,  my  enthusiastic  sight^seeing  must 
have  amused  my  feUow  travelers  who  had  spent  all 
their  lives  in  New  England,  The  sight  of  clear 
streams,  grand  and  venerable  mountains,  or  even  of 
hillside  pastures  covered  with  granite  boulders  filkd 
me  with  irrepressible  delight.  After  many  long 
drives  in  the  black  mud  of  the  j^rairies  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  travel  by  stage  in  the  rain  over  the  hard 
roads  of  the  East.  I  contrasted  the  snow=white  foam 
in  the  wake  of  a  steamer  on  Long  Island  Sound  with 
the  yellow  water  of  the  Missouri.  Xatural  scenery 
seemed  to  act  on  me  in  those  days  like  a  gentle  stim- 
ulant. My  spirit  was  cheered  and  my  health  was 
greatly  improved.  I  was  also  grateful  to  discover 
that  my  communications  to  the  periodical  press  had 


NEW  RELATIONS  261 

made  many  friends  in  i^laces  where  I  supposed  I  was 
an  entire  stranger. 

This  journey  also  brought  me  much  heli^  and  en- 
couragement in  the  study  of  religious  questions 
Hitherto  my  thinking  had  been  to  a  great  extent  sol- 
itary, without  books  or  time  to  read  them.  My 
views,  when  expressed,  had  so  often  been  received 
with  suspicion  and  even  with  obloquy,  that  I  was  be- 
coming timid  in  my  intercourse  with  men.  I  was 
eager  to  learn  the  opinions  of  others,  but  shy  and 
cautious  in  ex^jressing  my  own.  I  sometimes  suf- 
fered from  the  apprehension  that  there  might  be 
something  distorted  in  my  mental  development 
which,  if  I  fully  disclosed  myself,  would  shock  my 
acquaintances. 

Of  all  this  I  was  rapidly  relieved.  From  day  to 
day  as  I  formed  new  acquaintances  and  learned  the 
views  of  the  men  I  met,  I  found  that  in  my  western 
residence  I  had  not  grown  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
fathers  and  brothers  of  New  England  but  into  it,  and 
that  as  I  disclosed  the  results  of  my  own  thinking, 
first  cautiously  and  then  with  freedom,  my  opinions 
did  not  shock  and  rei3el,  but  attracted  attention, 
excited  interest  and  won  friendship  and  confidence. 

During  that  year  I  attended  for  the  first  time  a 
meeting  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  record- 
ing the  impression  which  was  made  ui^on  me  by  that 
meeting.  As  it  advanced  and  I  grew  in  symiwthy 
with  the  sweet  religious  spirit  pervading  it,  the  im- 
pression that  I  was  in  a  holy  place  deepened,  and 
I  recognized  in  my  own  soul  that  fundamental  con- 
ception of  the  gospel,  "  The  field  is  the  world."'     As  I 


262  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

left  that  meeting  I  felt  in  the  very  depths  of  my 
being  that  whatever  difficulties  and  perplexities  I 
might  encounter  amid  the  labyrinths  of  theological 
speculation  or  ecclesiastical  inquiry  I  would  never 
cut  myself  loose  from  the  x^ractieal  communion  with 
saints  which  I  had  enjoyed  on  that  occasion.  I  knew 
that  the  ark  of  God  was  there  and  that  in  the  fellow- 
ship of  faith  and  good  works  I  had  found  the  true 
Church  of  God. 

"  For  her  my  tears  shall  fall, 
For  her  my  prayers  ascend, 
To  her  my  cares  and  toils  be  given, 
Till  toils  and  cares  shall  end." 

From  that  purpose  I  have  never  wavered,  and  I 
have  spent  my  subsequent  life  in  laboring  to  the 
utmost  of  my  power  to  break  down  the  human  devices 
which  hinder  this  only  true  Christian  fellowship.  It 
was  almost  immediately  after  this  meeting  that  I 
returned  home  to  take  my  part  in  the  events  and 
experiences  connected  with  my  election  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  college. 

About  the  first  of  January,  1845,  it  became  neces- 
sary again  to  go  east  and  cooperate  with  Mr.  Baldwin 
in  an  effort  to  obtain  pecuniary  assistance  for  the 
college.  I  imagine  that  many  of  my  readers  have 
very  little  conception  of  what  a  winter's  journey  from 
central  Illinois  to  New  York  City  then  meant.  In 
my  case  it  was  a  stage  ride  pursued  night  and  day 
from  Springfield,  Illinois  to  Cumberland,  Maryland. 
Before  we  reached  Terre  Haute  the  mud  had  become 
so  deep  that  the  stage-coach  was  exchanged  for  a  mud= 
wagon,  that  is,  a  common  lumber  wagon  with  a  canvas 
cover  stretched  over  bows  of  oak,  and  no  springs 
except  the  small  ones  attached  to  the  seats.     The 


NEW  RELATIONS  263 

short  seats,  intended  for  two,  frequently  held  three, 
and  brought  heads  and  bows  so  near  together  as  to 
threaten  us  every  moment  with  concussion  of  the 
brain  as  the  vehicle  lurched  from  side  to  side.  In 
spite  of  the  greatest  diligence  we  did  not  make  more 
than  sixty-five  or  seventy  miles  in  twenty=four  hours. 
One  look  at  the  hovels  opened  for  the  entertainment 
of  travelers  reconciled  me  to  ride  on  in  discomfort 
rather  than  to  try  to  rest  in  such  places. 

About  midnight  on  Saturday  night  the  stage  stopped 
for  the  night,  and  I  for  the  Sabbath,  at  a  very  com- 
fortable place  in  Richmond,  Indiana.  How  charming 
was  the  refreshment  of  that  day  of  rest!  On  Monday 
morning,  to  my  great  satisfaction,  the  mud^wagon 
gave  place  to  a  fine  Concord  coach  which  carried  us 
in  comparative  comfort  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight 
miles  an  hour  over  the  macadamized  national  road. 
The  road  had  been  projected  to  run  as  far  west  as  St. 
Louis,  but  the  scruples  of  our  statesmen  about  the 
limitations  of  the  constitution  had  caused  it  to  stoj) 
at  Richmond.  Some  politicians  are  very  conscien- 
tious in  the  interest  of  their  party.  Unfortunately 
they  did  not  think  so  much  of  limitations  in  some 
matters  less  imjoortant  for  the  peoijle.  Our  past 
fatigues  were  now  almost  forgotten  as  we  sj)ed  on  to 
Dayton,  Columbus  and  Wheeling.  Then  came  the 
magnificent  scenery  of  the  passage  across  the  Alle- 
ghauies,  until  at  Cumberland,  Maryland,  we  took  the 
railroad  train  which  carried  me  to  my  friends  in  New 
York  before  another  Sabbath. 

Of  the  various  labors  I  encountered,  the  successes 
which  delighted  and  the  failures  which  disheartened 
me  in  the  efPort  to  build  np  the  finances  of  Illinois 


264  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

College,  it  would  be  tedious  to  speak.  In  February 
or  March  I  spent  a  fortnight  in  New  Haven.  The 
severe  labors  of  that  period  were  wonderfully  light- 
ened by  the  delightful  companionship  in  which  I 
there  found  myself.  My  old  friendship  with  Doctors 
Bacon  and  Dutton  was  renewed  and  strengthened. 
I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  Josej)h  Thompson, 
then  pastor  of  the  Chapel  Street  Church  and  after- 
wards widely  known  in  connection  with  Broadway 
Tabernacle  in  New  York.  For  the  precious  inti- 
macy enjoyed  with  those  three  men  through  all  the 
rest  of  their  lives  I  desire  devoutly  to  thank  God. 
Surely  the  joy  of  such  friendships  with  the  conse- 
crated and  hallowed  servants  of  God's  kingdom  is 
among  the  greatest  joys  of  his  children  here  on  earth, 
and  abundantly  repays  them  for  any  sacrifices  they 
may  be  permitted  to  make  in  the  service  of  that 
kingdom. 

I  was  invited  to  spend  an  evening  at  a  club  com- 
jaosed  of  the  men  I  have  named,  and  others  of  a  kin- 
dred spirit.  When  the  comi^any  were  assembled  Dr. 
Dutton  surprised  me  by  saying:  "I  suggest  that  in- 
stead of  the  regular  order  w^e  hear  from  Brother 
Sturtevant  his  views  of  the  relation  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  the  government  and  discipline  of  the 
Church."  I  protested  that  I  could  not  speak  before 
such  a  company  on  such  a  subject  without  a  mo- 
ment's preparation.  But  my  objections  were  over- 
ruled with  the  kindly  assurance  that  all  present  were 
brethren,  and  that  they  desired  to  ask  questions  and 
have  me  answer  them.  Accordingly  the  evening  un- 
til a  late  hour  was  spent  in  a  deeply  interesting  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  suggested.     Drawn  out  in  part 


NEW  RELATIONS  265 

by  their  questions,  I  stated  my  belief  that  the  Lord's 
Suj)per  is  designed  to  be  a  Christian  ordinance,  but 
not  an  instrument  of  church  power;  that  it  belongs 
only  to  the  Church  inorganic  and  universal;  the 
Church  which  has  no  government  save  that  which 
Christ  himself  exercises  by  his  word  and  his  Spirit. 
I  denied  that  the  rite  sustains  any  relation  to  the 
government  of  the  local  Church,  or  was  ever  intended 
to  enforce  its  discipline.  I  affirmed  that  whenever 
men  assumed  the  right,  at  that  table  to  which  the 
Lord  invites  those  who  know  in  their  hearts  that  they 
love  Him  in  sincerity  and  truth,  to  admit  or  exclude 
their  fellows,  they  acted  without  any  warrant  in  the 
Scriptures  and  committed  a  usurpation  in  the  house 
of  God.  I  contended  that  the  purity  and  sanctity  of 
the  service  needed  no  protection  but  the  moral  forces 
of  truth  and  love,  and  that  a  minister  had  no  func- 
tion at  the  table  but  that  of  a  presiding  officer  ap- 
Ijointed  by  his  brethren,  to  whom  he  did  not  adminis- 
ter the  rite  since  all  united  as  brethren  with  joyful 
concurrence  to  celebrate  it. 

These  oi)inions  were  very  earnestly  discussed,  some 
questioning,  some  combating,  and  some  defending 
them,  but  no  one  appeared  to  discover  in  them  any 
alarming  divergence  from  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  faith.  My  own  conviction  of  the  truth  and 
the  importance  of  the  principles  enunciated  thr.t 
evening  has  steadily  increased  ever  since,  as  I  have 
had  time  to  think  and  read  more  widely  on  the  sub- 
ject. I  have  traced  those  i^rinciples  into  a  much 
wider  circle  of  logical  relations  and  seen  more  fully 
their  illustrations  in  ecclesiastical  history,  and  now  I 
believe  that  before  the  conflict  of  sects  comes  to  an 


266  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

end,  and  tlie  divisions  of  Christendom  are  healed,  the 
doctrine  of  "  the  power  of  the  keys,"  as  it  was  under- 
stood by  the  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century  and 
by  their  Catholic  opponents,  must  be  renounced. 
This  doctrine  assumes  that  whatever  grace  of  God 
comes  to  His  people  through  x^^rticipation  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  is  locked  in  a  sacred  chest,  of  which 
the  organized  Church  alone  holds  the  key.  This  doc- 
trine was  held  alike  by  John  Calvin,  John  Knox,  and 
Poi^e  Gregory  VIP.  in  the  plenitude  of  his  s^^iritual 
despotism.  It  leaves  room  for  endless  disputes  about 
the  possession  of  the  true  key,  and  always  gives  the 
advantage  to  the  hierarchical  churches.  Substitute 
for  this  the  sim^Dler  teaching  that  the  ordinances  be- 
long to  the  Church  universal,  to  be  used  freely  by  all 
as  expressions  of  faith  and  fellowship,  and  the  causes 
of  division  will  to  a  great  extent  have  passed  away. 
Nothing  then  will  hinder  the  union  of  the  multitude 
of  the  disciples  around  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, the  Christ  of  the  miraculous  conception,  the 
crucifixion,  the  resurrection  and  the  ascension.  At 
last  we  shall  understand  what  our  Lord  meant  when 
he  said,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

A  CRISIS. 

The  aid  of  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Collegiate 
and  Theological  Education  at  the  West "  brought 
partial  but  by  no  means  adequate  relief  to  the  col- 
lege. Our  heavy  debt  incurred  during  the  financial 
crisis  of  1837  was  a  burden  so  grievous  that  for  a 
time  it  threatened  the  very  existence  of  the  institu- 
tion. Our  large  amount  of  real  estate,  the  gift  of  our 
friends,  now  oppressed  us,  since  all  excejot  the  build- 
ing site  was  subject  to  taxation.  In  1846  the  finan- 
cial agent  of  the  college  urged  that  it  was  impera- 
tively necessary  to  relieve  the  Board  of  these  bur- 
dens. In  order  to  accomplish  this  he  proposed  that 
all  the  property  of  the  college  except  the  buildings, 
the  land  reserved  for  a  site,  the  library,  and  the 
chemical  and  philosophical  apjDaratus,  should  be  of- 
fered for  sale  at  a  price  barely  suflB.cient  to  lift  our 
debt.  Thi§  I  opposed  as  an  unnecessary  sacrifice. 
I  had  already  secured  liberal  subscriptions  for  tlie 
payment  of  the  debt,  conditioned  on  the  whole  sum 
being  pledged,  and  I  believed  that  by  patience  and 
zeal  the  trustees  could  pass  the  crisis.  It  seemed 
certain  that  at  no  distant  day  the  property  would  in- 
crease greatly  in  value. 

I  suggested  another  plan  which  appeared  j^ractica- 
ble  and  easy.  The  bonds  of  the  State  of  Illinois 
were  selling  at  that  time  in  Wall  Street  at  the  very 

267 


268  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

low  price  of  16  or  17  i)er  cent,  of  their  face.  My 
proj)osition  was  to  offer  the  disposable  property  of 
the  college  in  exchange  for  State  bonds.  I  doubt- 
ed not  that  in  those  depressed  times  w^e  could  sell 
our  lands  for  as  much  in  State  bonds  at  their 
face  value  as  it  would  bring  in  cash  in  prosperous 
times,  and  I  had  full  faith  that  our  state  bonds  would 
in  due  time  be  worth  their  face.  Several  of  the  fore- 
most financiers  of  the  State  were  present  in  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  such  was  the  general  deiores- 
sion  that  they  received  my  proposition  with  a  storm 
of  sarcasm  and  ridicule.  Would  I  sell  the  rich  lands 
of  Illinois  for  dishonored  bonds  not  worth  the  paper 
on  which  they  were  printed  and  on  which  not  one  dime 
would  ever  be  paid?  After  hearing  them,  I  said, 
"Gentlemen,  you  are  financiers  and  ought  to  know 
about  such  matters.  I  am  but  a  preacher  and  a  stu- 
dent and  supposed  to  be  ignorant  of  them.  But  please 
remember  my  words.  The  bonds  of  the  State  of  Il- 
linois will  be  paid  to  the  last  dime,  jjrincipal  and  in- 
terest. If  ten  successive  legislatures  repudiate  them, 
the  eleventh  will  be  sure  to  j)rovide  for  their  i)ay- 
ment. 

"Go,  gentlemen,"  said  I,  "and  select  any  piece  of 
land  in  the  state  which  you  would  like  to  purchase, 
learn  from  its  owner  the  price,  and  then  estimate  the 
whole  share  of  the  state  debt  which  lies  against  that 
IDiece  of  land  and  add  that  to  the  price  asked  for  it, 
and  the  united  sum  will  not  be  found  to  be  more  than 
one  quarter  or  one  half  the  price  which  the  land  is 
sure  to  command  in  a  few  years." 

I  believed  moreover  that  if  a  communication  were 
made  to  the  legislature  of  the  state,  that  seventy-five 


A  CRISIS  269 

or  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the  bonds  of  the 
state  (for  that  was  about  the  sum  I  expected  to  raise) 
were  held  by  Illinois  Colles^e  and  jjerpetually  devoted 
to  educational  interests,  the  legislature  would  make 
the  interest  of  those  bonds  a  part  of  the  annual  ex- 
penses of  the  state  and  that  thus  our  property  could 
be  converted  into  a  substantial  productive  fund  at 
about  its  real  value.  My  argument  availed  nothing, 
the  Board  naturally  deferring  to  the  financiers.  With 
unspeakable  heart-sickness  I  saw  the  proi^osition  of 
the  financial  agent  accej)ted  and  arrangements  made 
for  sacrificing  the  property.  This  was  perhaps  the 
only  important  measure  in  respect  to  which  I  was  in 
a  minority  of  the  trustees  while  at  the  head  of  the  in- 
stitution. 

Immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  trustees 
I  wrote  to  Mr.  Baldwin,  predicting  the  results  which 
might  be  expected  from  this  action.  Some  eight  or 
ten  years  afterwards,  when  iDrosiDerity  had  returned  to 
the  country,  Mr.  Baldwin  sent  me  a  copy  of  that  let- 
ter that  I  might  see  how  events  had  fulfilled  my  pre- 
dictions. Those  predictions  were  made  in  sorrow, 
and  I  saw  their  fulfillment  with  still  greater  sorrow. 
Financiers,  however  shrewd,  sometimes  stand  too 
near  the  questions  at  issue  to  form  correct  judg- 
ments. 

The  finances  of  the  college  now  presented  a  very 
simple  problem.  We  must  keep  the  finances  of  the 
institution  within  the  income  provided  for  it,  and  ap- 
peal to  the  public,  not  now  for  the  payment  of  an  old 
debt  or  of  taxes  on  unproductive  land,  but  for  a  per- 
manent endowment.  In  the  year  1819  an  effort  was 
commenced  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  i^resent 


270  ,     JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

permanent  fund.  It  was  begun  very  timidly,  but 
with  an  earnest  purj)ose.  At  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  trustees  that  year  I  projiosed  that  we  should  begin 
with  an  effort  to  raise  a  fund  of  ten  thousand  dollars 
none  of  the  subscription  to  be  valid  until  the  full  sum 
should  have  been  pledged.  Before  the  meeting  ad- 
journed the  X3lan  was  j)ut  in  form  and  two  subscriptions 
of  $1,000  each  and  several  smaller  ones  were  recorded. 
My  own  subscription  of  one  thousand  dollars  was  to 
be  i)aid  in  ten  equal  annual  installments,  but  the 
amount  was  at  least  equal  to  one=fourth  of  all  my 
worldly  possessions.  It  was  also  agreed  that  as  soon 
as  the  first  ten  thousand  dollars  was  subscribed  we 
should  at  once  attempt  to  secure  another  ten  thousand 
upon  the  same  terms.  Rev.  William  C.  Merritt,  a 
graduate  of  the  college,  was  employed  to  prosecute 
the  work,  which  prospered  rather  beyond  our  expec- 
tations. It  was  not  long  before  the  sum  of  thirty 
thousand  dollars  had  been  secured,  and  since  that 
time  the  college  has  had  a  permanent  fund. 

And  here  I  anticipate  somewhat  by  mentioning  a 
serious  disaster  which  befell  us  about  the  last  of  De- 
cember, 1852.  Just  at  the  close  of  the  holiday  vaca- 
tion our  largest  building  was  burned.  It  was  four 
stories  high,  the  fire  was  in  the  roof  and  therefore 
difficult  of  access,  and  Jacksonville  had  then  no  fire 
department.  Nothing  of  the  building  was  saved  ex- 
cei3t  the  south  wing  where  my  family  had  resided  for 
twenty  years,  and  from  which  we  had  removed  to  our 
j)resent  home  only  a  few  months  before.  Our  small 
college  library  was  in  that  building.  With  great  dif- 
ficulty the  books  were  saved  in  a  somewhat  damaged 
condition.     The  worst  is  yet  to  be  told.     An  insurance 


A  CRISIS  271 

policy  of  several  thousand  dollars  had  been  allowed  to 
expire  only  a  few  weeks  previous — through  whose 
carelessness  it  is  not  worth  while  to  inquire — and  only 
three  thousand  dollars  of  valid  insurance  remained. 

When  the  students  returned  for  the  winter  term 
they  found  only  the  ashes  of  their  college  home.  A 
few  left  the  institution,  but  most  of  them  sought 
board  in  town  and  proceeded  with  their  studies.  Our 
chapel,  and  recitation  and  lecture  rooms,  were  not 
destroyed.  For  my  own  part  I  had  felt  so  keenly  the 
evils  to  which  students  living  in  college  dormitories 
were  exposed  both  in  my  Alma  Mater  and  in  Illinois 
that  I  was  in  no  haste  to  rebuild.  Those  evils  were 
somewhat  increased  by  the  fact  that  we  were  obliged 
to  receive  so  many  young  men  almost  entirely  desti- 
tute of  previous  discipline.  I  was  weary  of  enforcing 
police  regulations,  so  imperative  in  securing  good  or- 
der in  and  about  the  premises  and  yet  alwaj^s  to  some 
extent  ineffectual,  and  longed  to  put  the  young  men 
under  the  restraints  of  life  in  private  families. 

Subsequent  experience  and  reflection  have,  however, 
convinced  me  that  college  dormitories  possess  on  the 
whole  certain  advantages  and  cannot  well  be  dis- 
pensed with.  If  student  life,  for  any  reason,  does  not 
center  within  the  college  buildings,  the  unity  of  the 
institution  and  its  power  for  good  are  greatly  im- 
paired. Students  living  outside  the  walls  have  less 
of  that  home  feeling  which  does  so  much  to  make 
them  loyal  to  their  Alma  Mater.  It  is  esj)eciall)^ 
easier  to  carry  out  a  system  of  moral  and  religious 
training  where  there  is  at  least  a  nucleus  of  the  stu- 
dents living  togelher  in  the  college.  Such  religious 
influences  are  worth  more  than  anything  else  in  the 


272  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVAKT 

formation  of  character.  Without  them  the  best  police 
regulations  are  futile. 

I  was  not  alone  in  thinking  that  new  dormitories 
might  well  be  deferred  for  a  time.  Meanwhile  it 
seemed  important  to  take  immediate  steps  for  the 
erection  of  a  really  good  building  for  instruction. 
We  were  obliged  to  proceed  slowly  and  more  than 
four  years  passed  before  the  structure  was  completed. 
At  the  opening  of  the  fall  term  of  1857  we  took  pos- 
session of  the  ample  and  jDleasant  rooms  now  chiefly 
used  for  the  public  purposes  of  the  college. 

I  return  to  an  earlier  period  that  I  may  record  im- 
portant changes  that  occurred  in  our  faculty  before 
the  fire.  These  resulted  from  our  successful  efforts 
in  obtaining  funds  in  1849  and  1850,  and  from  the 
previous  resignations  of  Professors  Turner  and  Post, 
the  latter  to  accept  a  j)astorate  in  St.  Louis,  and  of 
Rev.  William  Coffin,  who  had  succeeded  me  in  the 
department  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy. 
Prof.  Rufus  C.  Crampton  had  succeeded  Prof.  Coffin, 
Prof.  Nutting  had  taken  the  place  of  Prof.  Post,  and 
Prof.  William  D.  Sanders  that  of  Prof.  Turner;  the 
last  two  being  chosen  as  Presbyterians  in  order  to 
meet  the  wishes  of  our  Presbyterian  friends  in  the 
Board  of  Trustees  and  outside  of  it. 

Up  to  this  time,  while  we  had  been  careful  that  our 
teachers  should  be  earnest,  religious  men,  they  had 
been  chosen  without  much  regard  to  denominational 
bias.  Liberally  educated  young  men  were  not  then 
numerous  in  our  state,  and  we  had  naturally  gone  for 
teachers  to  New  England  where  the  supply  was 
most  abundant.  In  the  interest  of  harmony  therefore 
I  and  others  exerted  ourselves  to  find  suitable  Pres- 


A  CRISIS  273 

byterian  candidates  for  the  vacant  chairs,  and  the 
unanimous  choice  of  these  two  professors  was  the  re- 
sult. The  new  arrangement  was  highly  acceptable  to 
our  Presbyterian  friends  and  caused  no  displeasure 
among  Congregationalists.  We  had  an  able  and,  as 
we  believed,  a  jDopular  faculty.  The  religious  divisions 
of  the  college  seemed  to  be  past  and  we  felt  that  an 
era  of  peace  and  good  feeling  was  before  us. 

In  1855  I  still  retained  my  connection  with  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  I  had  tried  to  be  fully  under- 
stood by  my  brethren  of  that  denomination.  My  lan- 
guage had  invariably  been:  "I  am  not  a  Presbyterian. 
I  came  among  you  as  a  Congregationalist,  and  as  such 
I  have  continued  with  you.  My  connection  here  is 
fraternal  rather  than  ecclesiastical.  For  years  I  have 
uniformly  excused  myself  from  voting  upon  questions 
of  ecclesiastical  politics.  If  with  this  understanding 
it  is  desirable  that  I  continue  with  you,  I  shall  seek 
no  change."  I  had,  however,- always  maintained  my 
unrestrained  liberty  of  free  utterance  on  all  subjects, 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  ones  not  excepted. 

Early  in  that  year  I  received  an  invitation  to  de- 
liver an  address  before  the  American  Congregational 
Union  at  its  anniversary  to  be  held  in  May  in  the  cit_y 
of  Brooklyn.  As  that  was  the  first  opportunity  I  had 
ever  had  of  giving  utterance  before  a  fitting  audience 
to  my  views  of  the  constitution  and  order  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  I  accepted  the  invitation.  No  man  has  a 
right  to  occupy  a  position  which  forbids  him  to  speak 
his  convictions  on  such  a  theme.  I  regarded  my 
opinions  on  that  subject  as  the  result  of  the  teaching 
providences  of  God,  and  I  felt  sacredly  bound  to  speak 
what  I  knew  and  testify  what  I  had  seen.     To  have 


I    ^      Jbil^MlC^t»^ 


274:  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

been  silent  through  fear  of  giving  offense  would  have 
been,  in  my  estimation,  treason  to  the  cause  of  truth 
and  righteousness. 

The  Church  of  the  Pilgrims,  of  which  Dr.  Kichard 
S.  Storrs  was  and  still  is  the  honored  pastor,  was  se- 
lected for  the  place  of  meeting.  My  theme  was, 
"The  Unsectarian  Character  of  Congregationalism." 
The  discourse  occupied  an  hour  and  three-quarters  in 
delivery,  and  was  repeated  by  special  request  without 
abridgement  the  next  Sabbath  evening  to  an  audience 
that  crowded  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  in  New  York. 
It  was  also  published  in  pamphlet  form  by  Draper  of 
Andover.  No  one  who  had  not  found  his  way  alone 
to  what  seemed  to  him  the  truth,  and  who  had  not 
experienced  years  of  loneliness  and  opposition,  can 
understand  the  joy  which  filled  my  heart  at  the  recep- 
tion given  to  my  utterances  by  those  great  assemblies 
of  intelligent  Christians.  It  gave  me  special  pleasure 
to  be  informed  that  my  old  friend  Dr.  Absalom  Pet- 
ers, who  had  so  severely  rebuked  me  in  1834  for  the 
countenance  I  had  been  giving  to  Congregationalism 
in  Illinois,  said  to  his  friends  as  he  left  the  Church  of 
the  Pilgrims:  "Hitherto  I  have  been  a  Presbyterian. 
Henceforth  I  am  a  Congregationalist."  That  great 
and  good  man  afterwards  expressed  himself  to  the 
same  effect  more  than  once  in  my  presence. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  college  needed  a 
much  larger  endowment,  and  the  trustees  proposed  to 
raise  a  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  subscrip- 
tions were  conditioned  uj)on  the  entire  amount  being 
pledged  before  the  first  day  of  June,  1858.  Prof. 
Sanders,  an  earnest  and  very  efficient  man,  consent- 
ed to  assist  me  in  procuring  pledges.     Our  denomi- 


A  CRISIS  275 

national  difPerences  seemed  to  have  mostly  disap- 
peared. I  had  withdrawn  from  the  Presbyterian 
Church  because  my  connection  with  it  no  longer 
seemed  to  promote  harmony  and  facilitate  coopera- 
tion, and  the  change  had  been  made  so  far  as  I  could 
judge  without  any  interruption  of  good  feeling. 
Neither  Prof.  Sanders  nor  myself  were  withdrawn 
from  the  work  of  instruction  while  raising  the  endow- 
ment funds.  The  labor  was  great  and  success  some- 
times seemed  almost  impossible.  As  the  first  of  June 
drew  near  the  pressure  greatly  increased,  and  when 
less  than  a  fortnight  remained  and  we  lacked  several 
thousand  dollars  of  the  needed  subscriptions  it  be- 
came apparent  that  this  deficiency  must  be  supplied 
by  the  i^eople  of  Jacksonville  and  its  vicinity. 

At  this  crisis  a  very  influential  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  having  sought  a  private  interview, 
assured  me  of  his  great  interest  in  our  success,  and 
suggested  as  a  means  of  securing  it  that  I  should  an- 
nounce that  I  would  not  hereafter  engage  in  ecclesi- 
astical discussions  such  as  my  recent  address  before 
the  Congregational  Union.  He  asked  if  other  college 
presidents  of  known  wisdom  and  prudence,  such  men 
for  exami^le  as  Dr.  Hopkins  of  Williams  College,  did 
such  things.  In  rej^ly  I  told  him  that  at  the  close  of 
my  discourse  in  Broadway  Tabernacle  Dr.  Hopkins 
had  sought  me  out,  thanked  me  and  assured  me  that 
he  thought  my  address  would  do  much  good.  I  told 
him  that  the  trustees  could  have  my  resignation  at 
any  moment  but  that  I  would  remain  at  the  head  of 
the  college  only  as  a  free  man,  at  perfect  liberty  to 
speak  and  publish  at  my  own  discretion. 

We  toiled  on,  and  before  the  first  day  of  June  ar- 


276  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

rived  the  full  amount  had  been  pledged.  I  announced 
the  good  news  to  Mr.  Baldwin  in  New  York  by  refer- 
ing  to  Psalm  126: 1-3;  "  When  the  Lord  turned  again 
the  caf)tivity  of  Zion,  we  were  like  them  that  dream. 
Then  was  our  mouth  filled  with  laughter,  and  our 
tongue  with  singing:  Then  said  they  among  the 
heathen,  the  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  them. 
The  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us;  whereof  we 
are  glad." 

It  now  seemed  to  us  all  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
college  rested  on  an  assured  foundation.  Presbyter- 
ians and  Congregationalists  and  patriotic  public  spir- 
ited men  who  were  connected  with  neither  denomina- 
tion were  cooperating  in  making  its  foundation 
broader  and  stronger,  and  yet  the  liberty  of  its  in- 
structors had  been  maintained. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTl  SLAVERY. 

In  the  study  of  revolutions  such  as  the  overthrow 
of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  we  are  apt  to  overes- 
timate the  forces  which  appear  in  oj)en  conflict,  and 
to  undervalue  the  more  tranquil  influence  of  thought 
guided  by  the  providence  and  the  Spirit  of  God. 
The  progress  of  anti=slavery  opinion  in  the  state  of 
Illinois  was  like  the  sunshine.  It  came  as  the  King- 
dom of  God  always  comes,  and  no  one  had  reason  to 
exclaim:  "  Lo  here,  or,  lo  there!  " 

Since  the  martyrdom  of  Lovejoy,  two  notable  events 
have  been  the  waynnarks  of  our  progress.  Both  were 
national  in  their  influence  and  character.  One  of 
them  was  the  publication  and  wide  circulation  of 
'•  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  Up  to  that  time,  in  those 
portions  of  the  Northern  states  peopled  by  immigra- 
tion from  the  South,  anti=slavery  sentiment  had  never 
been  fully  emancipated  from  the  ban  under  which 
Southern  oj)inion  had  placed  it.  Personal  violence  or 
open  insult  no  longer  prevailed,  but  such  sentiments 
were  treated  with  contemi3t,  and  those  who  uttered 
them  to  some  extent  forfeited  social  position.  In 
most  of  the  churches  such  utterances  were  frowned 
upon,  and  the  preachers  who  indulged  in  them  were 
made  conscious  that  i:)ublic  odium  rested  upon  them. 
The  charge  of  favoring  the  freedom  of  the  slave  in- 
jured the  reputation  of  any  man  or  institution  to 
which  it  attached. 

277 


278  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  seemed  to  end  as  if  by  magic 
this  unnatural  siDell  upon  men's  freedom  of  utterance. 
The  book  sold  with  astonishing  rapidity,  and  was  al- 
most universally  read.  A  few  incorrigible  devotees  of 
slavery  were  full  of  anger,  but  they  were  quite  over- 
powered by  the  tide  of  x^ublic  opinion,  and  were  soon 
glad  to  retire  in  moody  silence.  The  poj)ular  heart 
was  stirred,  and  old  prejudices  were  forgotten,  and 
convictions  long  repressed  were  freely  uttered.  Mrs. 
Stowe's  pictures  of  slavery  and  its  influence  on  indi- 
viduals and  society  were  so  grax^hic  that  those  who 
knew  slavery  best  could  not  help  recognizing  their 
truth.  The  book  became  the  chief  theme  of  conver- 
sation in  all  social  circles,  until  people  were  ashamed 
to  confess  that  they  had  not  read  it.  For  the  first  time 
in  our  history  abolitionism  became  popular.  I  have 
never  witnessed  any  other  such  revolution  in  i)ublic 
sentiment. 

The  philosophy  of  the  marvelous  influence  exerted 
by  that  book  merits  the  x)rofoundest  investigation.  It 
was  not  the  efl^ect  of  genius  alone,  though  without 
genius  it  could  not  have  been  produced.  The  vivid- 
ness of  its  j)ictures,  its  accurate  delineation  of  charac- 
ter and  especially  of  the  negro  character,  the  touches 
of  wit  and  mirthfulness  with  which  even  the  most 
sorrowful  scenes  were  intermingled,  were  all  efifective. 
But  deeper  than  these  was  the  profound  aim;  to  paint 
a  great  national  crime  in  all  its  enormity  and  if  pos- 
sible to  eliminate  the  horrible  system  from  our  civili- 
zation. Without  this  holy  purpose  which  pervades 
every  page  of  the  book  its  publication  would  have 
produced  no  marked  results.  Of  course  the  wave  of 
popular  enthusiasm  gradually  subsided,  but  its  influ- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  279 

ence  was  permanent.  It  was  no  longer  a  crime  to  utter 
anti^slavery  sentiments.  The  domination  of  slavery 
north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  bad  passed  away 
forever. 

The  other  great  landmark  in  the  progress  of  liberty 
was  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party  from 
1854  to  1856.  And  here  I  must  say  a  few  words 
about  my  own  political  history,  though  it  may  seem 
to  some  of  my  friends  absurd  or  even  discredital)le. 
In  the  first  Presidential  election  after  reaching  my 
majority  I  was  not  able  to  participate  because  of  a 
recent  change  of  residence.  In  1832,  I  had  been  but 
three  years  in  Illinois,  and  had  so  little  sympathy 
with  the  two  parties  then  contending  for  the  control 
of  the  state  that  my  conscience  would  permit  me  to 
vote  with  neither.  When  the  slavery  question  began 
to  agitate  the  public  mind  my  unwillingness  to  ally 
myself  with  either  of  the  great  i^arties  M'as  much  in- 
creased. I  regarded  slavery  as  the  foremost  national 
issue,  and  utterly  distrusted  both  parties  with  respe(  t 
to  it.  Yet  no  statesmanlike  or  even  intelligible  line  of 
political  action  was  suggested  by  others.  In  fact  my 
first  vote  for  a  President  was  cast  for  Martin  Van 
Buren  in  1849.  Then  it  was  not  the  candidate  Init 
the  i)latform  that  won  my  support.  I  had  as  little 
respect  for  the  career  of  the  nominee  as  the  most  zeal- 
ous of  his  opponents,  but  I  recognized  the  Free  Soil 
[)rinciples  of  the  Buffalo  jjlatform  as  expressing  the 
only  issue  upon  which,  at  that  time,  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  American  jieople  could  be  brought  to 
concerted  action  against  slavery.  I  not  only  accepted 
the  platform  with  enthusiasm,  but  I  had  hope  that 
under   the    lead   of  ex=President  Van  Buren  a  new 


280  JULIAN  ^r.  STURTEVANf 

party  might  be  organized  with  sound  anti^slavery 
principles,  which  would  rapidly  attract  adherents. 

In  this,  however,  I  was  disappointed.  In  1852  I 
saw  no  reasonable  hope  that  anything  of  importance 
would  be  accomplished  by  the  Liberty  party,  and  I 
regarded  the  other  two  parties  with  constantly  in- 
creasing distrust  and  aversion.  In  what  was  known 
as  the  compromise  of  1850  the  two  had  united  in 
such  action  as  was  intended  and  expected  on  both 
sides  to  render  any  further  jDolitical  action  against 
the- system  of  slavery  impossible,  and  thus  to  render 
the  bondage  of  the  enslaved  race  and  of  the  nation 
perpetual.  I  cannot  even  deny  that  the  iron  had 
entered  my  own  soul  until  I  was  almost  tempted  to 
say  about  God  what  Cassy  said  on  Legree's  plantation 
"He  is  not  here."  It  was  to  my  mind  the  most 
hopeless  crisis  of  the  great  conflict.  I  could  not  vote 
for  a  Whig  or  Democratic  administration.  I  saw  no 
hope  in  any  other  direction.  The  Divine  resources 
are  infinite,  but  when  the  Republican  party  was  or- 
ganized it  seemed  to  us  the  only  method  by  which 
deliverance  could  possibly  come  to  the  nation.  And 
even  that  method  would  have  been  seemingly  impos- 
sible if  the  way  had  not  been  opened  for  it,  as  the 
way  of  Providence  is  so  often  opened,  by  the  mad- 
ness of  its  enemies. 

When  in  1820  the  Missouri  Compromise  was 
accepted,  most  northern  peojile  believed  that  it  would 
be  faithfully  adhered  to,  and  that  slavery  would  there- 
by be  confined  within  comparatively  narrow  limits.  If 
anyone  will  take  the  trouble  to  trace  on  the  majD  the 
line  which  then  separated  us  from  Mexico  he  will  see 
that   this   expectation  was  seemingly   well   founded, 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  281 

But  the  accession  of  Texas  and  the  immense  terri- 
tory acquired  by  the  Mexican  war,  gave  the  South 
room  for  vast  expansion  south  of  the  line  fixed  by 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  as  the  permanent  bound- 
ary between  freedom  and  slavery.  Even  with  this, 
however,  the  South  was  not  satisfied.  In  coopera- 
tion with  its  numerous  adherents  in  the  North  it  soon 
openly  avowed  its  purpose  to  trample  on  the  Missouri 
Compromise  and  to  extend  the  system  of  slavery  to 
all  parts  of  our  unorganized  territory,  wherever  mas- 
ters might  choose  to  migrate  with  their  human  chat- 
tels. Southern  leaders  were  evidently  determined 
not  only  to  maintain  that  equilibrium  in  the 
United  States  Senate  between  freedom  and  slavery, 
which  had  been  so  jealously  guarded  since  1820,  but 
to  secure  for  slavery  a  perpetual  ascendency.  The 
institution  which  at  first  asked  only  for  a  tolerated 
existence,  next  claimed  full  equality  with  freedom, 
and  now  clearly  revealed  to  thoughtful  men  its  pur- 
pose to  hold  perpetual  sway  in  the  councils  of  the 
great  republic. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  discovery  that  such  an 
issue  was  upon  us  filled  patriotic  men  at  the  North 
with  alarm  and  horror.  Just  at  this  crisis  the  Free- 
Soil  jjolicy  advocated  by  the  James  G.  Birney  wing 
of  the  abolitionists  and  most  clearly  and  distinctly 
announced  in  the  BufPalo  platform  of  1848,  began  to 
be  ojaenly  and  eloquently  championed  by  many  of 
the  able  and  most  influential  statesmen  of  the  North. 
Men  from  all  parties  were  drawn  as  by  a  common  im- 
pulse toward  the  new  banner.  It  became  evident 
that  upon  that  issue  alone  the  North  could  be  rallied 
to  defend  itself  against  the   alarming  encroachments 


282  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of  the  slave-power.  The  disintregration  of  the  Whig 
party  became  inevitable.  Old  line  Whigs  as  they 
were  called,  abolitionists  who  under  the  lead  of  Bir- 
ney  remained  faithful  to  the  Union,  and  a  great  mul- 
titude of  Democrats,  found  themselves  standing 
shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  determination  that  sla- 
very should  not  be  naturalized,  and  therefore  should 
not  be  x^ermitted  to  encroach  further  upon  the 
national  domain.  An  absolute  necessity  created  a 
new  jDolitieal  organization  to  express  the  general  sen- 
timent. The  madness  of  the  slavery  propagandists 
had  created  the  Republican  party.  "Whom  the 
gods  will  destroy  they  first  make  mad." 

The  organization  of  the  Republican  party  in  cen- 
tral and  southern  Illinois  was,  however,  no  easy  task. 
The  Whig  party  had  been  strong  here,  but  its  ad- 
herents were  very  largely  the  followers  of  Henry  Clay, 
and  they  still  regarded  him  with  implicit  confidence. 
When,  therefore,  it  became  evident  that  the  Whig 
party  throughout  the  North  was  breaking  uj),  it 
became  a  very  serious  and  doubtful  question  what 
course  the  Whigs  of  this  region  would  take.  Most  of 
them  did  not  desire  the  further  extension  of  slavery. 
They  desired  to  establish  freedom,  not  slavery,  in 
the  new  territories  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  They 
M'ished  to  create  no  more  slave  states,  but  they  were 
not  abolitionists.  They  did  not  wish  to  convert  the 
slave  states  in  which  they  were  born  and  reared  into 
free  states.  They  were  ready  to  resist  any  effort  to 
give  freedom  to  the  negroes  in  the  midst  of  their 
masters.  They  therefore  regarded  with  susj^icion 
and  aversion  any  party  which  seemed  to  favor  eman- 
cipation.    Here,  therefore,  the  situation  was  exceed- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANThSLA  VERY  283 

iiigly  critical.  In  noriherii  Illinois  the  Republican 
party  organized  itself,  but  in  central  and  southern 
Illinois  it  was  a  grave  question  whether  an  organiza- 
tion could  be  effected. 

The  only  prominent  politician  in  the  neighborhood 
upon  whom  we  could  depend  as  a  leader  was  Richard 
Yates,  the  first  man  who  received  the  degree  of  A.  B. 
from  Illinois  College,  delivered  to  him  by  myself  in 
the  absence  of  President  Beecher.  He  had  already 
served  one  term  as  a  Representative  in  Congress, 
having  been  elected  by  the  Whig  party,  and  had 
there  shown  a  greater  degree  of  sympathy  with  anti= 
slavery  princix^les  than  was  generally  expected  either 
from  a  Whig  or  a  Democrat.  The  open  violation  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise  had  filled  him  with  an  in- 
dignation which  he  had  not  been  slow  to  express. 
To  him  anti-slavery  men  naturally  turned  for  leader- 
ship. He  hesitated.  It  was  not  strange  that  he 
should,  for  he  had  bright  political  prospects,  and  his 
future  career  was  at  stake.  At  this  juncture  I  had 
a  long  interview  with  him.  He  was  frank,  warm=^ 
hearted  and  generous.  I  entreated  him  to  become 
our  standard-bearer  and  assured  him  that  he  would 
not  lack  for  followers.  He  jiromised  to  do  what  he 
could,  and  well  was  that  promise  redeemed. 

He  was  a  good  leader,  and  rapidly  succeeded  in  in- 
spiring his  old  Whig  associates  with  his  own  enthu- 
siasm. Wise  and  politic,  he  assured  them  that  they 
were  organizing  not  an  abolition  but  a  Free=Soil  party, 
whose  sole  object  it  was  to  prevent  the  further  exten- 
sion of  slavery  over  territory  hitherto  free  from  its 
blighting  influence.  He  f>roposed  to  leave  slavery 
undisturbed  in  the  states  where  it  already  existed, 


284  JULIAN  M.  STVRTEVANT 

saying  to  the  accursed  thing:  "Hitherto  shalt  thou 
come  but  no  further."  I  did  not  then,  neither  do  I 
now,  regard  the  KeiDublican  party  as  the  less  worthy 
of  confidence  and  honor  because  it  guarded  against 
attacking  the  "peculiar  institution"  in  the  slave  states. 
Without  that  limitation  it  could  not  have  been  organ- 
ized at  all  in  this  region.  The  leaders  of  the  party 
wisely  proposed  to  do  what  they  could,  not  what  they 
could  not,  accomplish.  They  assailed  the  institution 
just  where  it  could  be  successfully  attacked.  If  the 
abolitionists  had  been  as  wise  and  discriminating 
from  the  very  beginning  of  the  agitation  they  Would 
have  gathered  many  more  adherents.  Society  would 
have  been  far  less  violently  convulsed,  and  perhaps 
slavery  would  have  been  more  speedily  abolished,  and 
with  far  less  sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure. 

That  period  brought  into  striking  prominence  an- 
other man  who  was  destined  to  become  even  more 
famous  than  Governor  Yates.  That  man  was  Abra- 
ham Lincoln.  Nothing  ever  seemed  tome  more  won- 
derful or  more  obviously  providential  than  the  raising 
uj)  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  that  great  crisis.  The  times 
called  for  one  born  and  reared  in  the  midst  of  slavery 
and  the  i^overty  and  ignorance  which  it  produced 
among  the  poor  whites — one  who  could  meet  people 
of  Southern  birth  and  move  them  by  a  style  of  elo- 
quence that  should  go  straight  to  their  hearts,  but  one 
who  was  nevertheless  imbued  with  the  highest  con- 
ception of  moral  obligation  and  was  able  to  grasp 
those  great  principles  which  underlie  the  whole  fabric 
of  free  institutions.  He  must  be  a  statesman  capable 
of  viewing  social  and  political  questions  from  the 
highest  moral  standpoint.     I  have  known  but  one 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI  SLAVERY  285 

man  in  whom  these  combinations  existed,  and  that 
man  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

There  is  one  view  of  the  conditions  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
early  life  in  relation  to  which  it  is  very  difficnlt  for 
any  of  ns  to  do  him  justice.  We  have  other  examples 
of  men  who  have  made  their  way  from  penury  and 
obscurity  through  all  the  difficulties  which  their  po- 
sition involved  to  high  intellectual  culture  and  the 
broadest  and  most  liberal  statesmanship.  Mr.  Gar- 
field was  such  a  man.  But  there  is  one  great  differ- 
ence between  the  career  of  Mr.  Garfield  and  that  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Garfield  was  born  and  reared  in  a 
community  in  which  the  advantages  of  an  elementary 
education  were  oj)en  to  all,  and  in  which  the  whole 
people  were  imbued  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  with 
the  spirit  of  liberal  learning.  In  those  elementary 
schools  the  advantages  of  which  he  enjoyed,  friend- 
ly eyes  were  watching  and  friendly  hands  were 
laid  upon  him  in  affectionate  encouragement.  Edu- 
cated men  sought  him  out  and  advised  him  to  seek  a 
liberal  education.  In  1880,,  during  the  Presidential 
canvass,  the  widow  of  the  Rev.  John  Seward  of  Au- 
rora, Ohio,  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Garfield  reminding 
him  that  her  husband  had  thus  encouraged  him  in  his 
early  struggles.  .  Mr.  Garfield  replied  and  very  grate- 
fully acknowledged  the  fact.  It  was  from  that  same 
Rev.  John  Seward  that  I  received  at  an  earlier  date 
much  of  the  inspiration  that  induced  me  to  enter  col- 
lege. 

But  Mr.  Lincoln  was  lifted  up  towards  higher  at- 
tainments by  no  such  surrounding  atmosphere  of  in- 
telligence. No  such  pervading  spirit  of  culture  stim- 
ulated him.     No  common  school  blessed  his  childhood. 


286  JULIAN  31.  ST URTEVANT 

The  sphere  of  his  activity  and  his  culture  was  limited 
to  the  hard  toil  and  coarse  fare  of  the  log  cabin,  the 
forest  and  the  corn  field.  He  had  actually  reached 
man's  estate  before  he  acquired  the  first  rudiments  of 
an  education.  That  in  spite  of  the  extreme  disadvan- 
tages of  such  a  position  he  should  have  attained  the 
culture,  the  knowledge,  the  wisdom  and  the  stirring 
eloquence  that  fitted  him  for  his  great  destiny  and  for 
the  eminent  services  he  was  to  render  to  liberty,  to 
our  country  and  to  civilization  itself,  was  an  achieve- 
ment without  a  parallel.  Long  before  he  was  thought 
of  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  I  knew  him  in- 
timately. He  stood  in  the  foremost  rank  among  the 
most  truthdoving  men  I  have  ever  known.  Whether 
at  his  law  office,  in  the  drawing-room,  at  the  bar,  in 
the  halls  of  legislation,  or  on  the  rostrum,  he  was  in- 
capable of  sensationalism.  His  constant  aim  was  to 
express  truth  in  its  own  simple  naked  impressiveness. 
If  you  could  reach  the  very  center  of  his  mental  ac- 
tivity you  would  always  find  there  some  moral  truth 
from  which  everything  radiated.  He  was  a  true  and 
righteous  man.  This  was  the  Moses  whom  God  had 
raised  up  to  lead  his  people  out  of  Egyptian  bondage, 
and  yet  he  never  had  the  advantage  of  the  arts  of  civ- 
ilization taught  in  the  palace  of  Pharaoh.  To  have 
known  Lincoln  I  esteem  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
of  my  early  settlement  on  what  was  then  the  frontier 
of  our  civilization. 

It  was  only  with  the  uprising  of  new  political  is- 
sues that  we  began  to  realize  Mr,  Lincoln's  power  or 
to  appreciate  his  character,  although  as  a  law.yer  and 
as  a  politician  he  had  already  acquired  a  high  reputa- 
tion, having  served  one  term  as  a  Whig  in  the  nation- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI'SLAVERY  287 

al  House  of  Representatives.  In  the  conflicts  which 
followed  he  seemed  to  have  found  his  element  and 
entered  upon  the  work  for  which  he  was  born.  I  re- 
member the  first  speech  I  heard  from  him  on  this 
great  issue  as  though  it  were  but  yesterday.  He  ad- 
dressed an  audience  of  not  less  than  two  thousand 
peox^le  gathered  from  Morgan  and  the  surrounding 
counties.  He,  like  Yates,  spoke  guardedly,  propos- 
ing only  to  confine  slavery  within  its  existing  limits. 
But  that  did  not  hinder  him  from  striking  terrible 
blows  at  slavery  itself.  He.  sought  to  move  his  audi- 
ence to  prevent  the  further  extension  of  slavery.  It 
was  therefore  perfectly  legitimate  to  show  that  slav- 
ery was  a  very  bad  thing.  And  this  he  did  with  tell- 
ing force.  No  man  ever  knew  the  hearts  of  his  hear- 
ers more  perfectly  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was 
perfectly  familiar  with  all  their  passions,  j)rejudices 
and  hatreds,  and  yet  was  able  so  to  construct  his  ar- 
gument as  to  avoid  offending  their  prejudices,  and  to 
so  convince  them  that  they  received  his  utterances 
with  clamorous  applause.  That  day  I  first  learned 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  great  man.  In  a  meta- 
phorical sense  he  commanded  the  winds  and  the 
waves  and  they  obeyed  him.  He  even  drew  his  argu- 
ment from  the  deeps  of  natural  theology.  "  My 
friends,'"  said  he,  "  we  know  that  slavery  is  not  right. 
If  it  were  right,  some  men  would  have  been  born 
with  no  hands  and  two  mouths,  for  it  never  was  de- 
signed that  they  should  work,  but  only  eat.  Other 
men  would  have  been  Ijorn  with  no  mouth  and  four 
hands,  because  it  was  the  design  of  the  Creator  that 
they  should  work  that  other  men  might  eat.  We  are 
all  born  with  a  mouth  to  eat  and  hands  to  work,  that 


288  JULIAN  31.  STUETEVANT 

every  man  may  eat  the  products  of  his  own  labor  and 
be  satisfied." 

It  is  impossible  fully  to  estimate  the  beneficent  in- 
fluence on  the  people  of  central  and  southern  Illinois 
from  the  great  political  agitation  which  followed  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party.  It  was  more 
than  a  great  political  movement.  It  was  a  great 
moral"  upheaval.  Previous  to  that  time,  at  least  since 
the  year  1824,  the  moral  element  had  been  scarcely 
discernible  in  our  politics.  From  that  time  onward 
to  the  close  of  the  war  the  moral  element  seemed  to 
be  almost  the  leading  one  in  public  affairs.  In  Mr. 
Lincoln's  sjieeches  it  was  always  paramont.  His  ap- 
peal was  to  the  moral  convictiofls  of  his  hearers.  In 
that  respect  it  would  be  difficult  for  anyone  not  fa- 
miliar with  our  previous  political  condition  to  form 
any  adequate  conceiDtion  of  the  change  wrought 
among  us  by  the  presidential  canvas  of  1856.  In 
our  j)art  of  the  state  the  newly  organized  party  was 
still  greatly  in  the  minority,  but  it  was  evidently  the 
growing  aggressive  force. 

The  contrast  between  the  two  great  party  leaders, 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  was  very 
remarkable.  The  latter  was  then  in  the  zenith  of  his 
popularity.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of  all  those 
artifices  by  which  men  win  their  way  to  the  hearts  of 
the  multitude.  Men  whom  he  had  once  met  he  never 
forgot,  and  he  knew  how  to  greet  them  with  a  certain 
ajjpearance  of  cordiality  which  made  the  imjDression 
of  great  and  affectionate  regard.  Each  man  was 
made  to  feel  that  he  was  the  very  one  that  the  great 
leader  particularly  desired  to  meet.  Yet  Mr.  Doug- 
las' power  was  by  no  means  limited   to  these  vulgar 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  AXTI-SLAVERY  289 

arts.  He  was  very  strong  as  a  i^opular  orator,  but 
the  source  of  his  power  was  in  great  contrast  with 
that  of  Mr.  Lincohi.  He  knew  all  the  jjassions, 
tastes  and  prejudices  of  the  masses  he  expected  to 
win  as  well  as  Mr.  Lincoln  did,  but  he  employed  that 
knowledge  for  a  very  different  purpose.  While  Mr. 
Lincoln  used  his  familiarity  with  human  nature  for 
the  puriDose  of  finding  access  for  the  truth  to  the  un- 
derstanding and  heart,  Mr.  Douglas  employed  the 
same  knowledge  with  consummate  adroitness  to  ac- 
complish his  own  ends,  whatever  they  might  be. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  truthfulness  was  unquestioned.  Mr. 
Douglas'  success  as  a  lawyer  lay  largely  in  his  utter 
indifference  to  the  line  that  separates  truth  from 
falsehood.  If  he  could  but  win  he  did  not  hesitate 
about  the  means.  Mr.  Douglas  was  perfectly  confi- 
dent of  his  own  power  of  so  arraying  ^aopular  passion 
and  prejudice  against  the  party  he  oj^posed  as  to 
overwhelm  it.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  equally  confident 
that  under  the  government  of  the  Supreme  Ruler  of 
the  universe,  truth  would  prevail  and  righteousness 
would  triumph.  The  influence  of  the  two  men  upon 
their  followers  corresponds  precisely  with  this  con- 
trast. 

An  instance  once  occurred  in  an  audience  which 
Mr.  Douglas  had  just  been  addressing.  Immediately 
after  he  ceased  an  enthusiastic  admirer  in  the  crowd 
declared  that  he  believed  that  Douglas  was  a  greater 
man  than  Jesus  Christ.  We  may  be  sure  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  never  left  such  an  impression.  His  admir- 
ers always  regarded  him  as  the  minister  of  truth  and 
righteousness.  He  made  them  feel  that  the  truth 
which  must  ultimately  prevail  is  not  a  matter  of  hu. 


290  JULIAN  M.  STUBTEVANT 

man  opinion,  but  is  the  expression  of  immutable 
principles  and  accords  with  the  law  of  God.  This 
contrast  explains,  at  least  in  part,  the  moral  revolu- 
tion which  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  co-laborers  intro- 
duced into  our  politics. 

The  success  of  the  Republican  party  in  its  first 
Presidential  campaign  was  very  remarkable.  The 
obstacles  to  be  encountered  were  gigantic;  the  pre- 
judices to  be  vanquished  seemed  insurmountable. 
Though  through  the  division  of  the  Whig  element 
between  the  Republicans  and  the  Know  Nothings  the 
Republicans  were  defeated  on  the  national  issue,  still 
we  elected  our  state  ticket  by  a  handsome  majority. 
Jacksonville  itself,  notwithstanding  the  large  pre- 
ponderance of  the  Southern  element  in  our  popula- 
tion, was  carried  for  the  Rejpublicans  by  a  consider- 
able plurality.  If  I  had  formerly  been  remiss  in  the 
duties  of  a  citizen  I  did  what  I  could  to  atone  for  it 
in  that  canvass.  I  must  confess,  however,  that  as  in 
1848  my  enthusiasm  was  not  inspired  by  the  can- 
didate. I  endeavored  at  the  outset  to  create  in  my- 
self some  zeal  by  reading  the  life  of  General  Fre- 
mont, Ijut  I  soon  found  that  my  fervor  was  more 
likely  to  be  chilled  than  to  be  intensified  by  the 
process.  I  therefore  said  and  thought  little  of  the 
candidate,  but  rejoiced  to  do  what  I  could  to  advance 
the  righteous  j)rinciples  embodied  in  the  j)latform. 

The  most  important  conflict  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  ever  engaged  in  this  state  was  a  series  of  debates 
between  him  and  Mr  Douglas,  in  1858.  Many  con- 
sider his  speech  delivered  near  the  beginning  of 
that  contest  in  the  representatives'  hall  at  Springfield, 
the  greatest  effort  of  his  life.     With  great  pleasure  I 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  2'Jl 

recall  its  impressive  opening.  Outside  were  the 
noisy  demonstrations  of  a  great  Democratic  parade. 
The  room  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  with  grave 
and  thoughtful  men.  I  shall  never  forget  my  emo- 
tions as  the  tall  form  of  our  leader  rose  before  us 
and  he  gave  utterance  to  the  memorable  words :  "  A 
house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand.  I  believe 
this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to 
be  dissolved.  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall;  but 
I  do  expect  that  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will 
become  all  the  one  thing  or  all  the  other.  Either 
the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest  the  further 
spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind 
shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  course  of  ultimate 
extinction,  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  until 
it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  states  old  as 
well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South."  This  was  new 
doctrine  for  the  latitude  of  Springfield,  yet  never  did 
a  statesman  choose  the  ground  he  was  to  stand  upon 
more  wisely  or  define  it  more  boldly,  or  defend  it 
more  irresistably.  I  know  that  some  of  the  old-time 
abolitionists  present  were  startled  and  alarmed  at 
the  frankness  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  position.  One  of  them 
intimately  known  to  myself,  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
greatest  admirers,  sought  an  interview  with  him  the 
next  day  and  entreated  him  to  modify  his  language, 
assuring  him  that  on  the  issue  he  had  made  our  de- 
feat was  inevitable.  Mr.  Lincoln  heard  him  with 
respectful  attention,  but  replied  with  kindly  firmness, 
"  I  will  not  change  one  word.  I  have  rewritten  that 
paragraph  again  and  again.  It  xjrecisely  expresses 
the  position  on  which  I  will  make  the  fight."     It  was 


292  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

not  long  before  the  doubter  fully  concurred  in  the 
wisdom  of  the  decision.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  Mr.  Douglas  himself  ^Yas  entirely  confident  that 
on  that  issue  Mr.  Lincoln  could  be  easily  and  utterly 
routed.  Mr.  Douglas  was  no  judge  of  the  x^ower  of 
truth,  while  Mr.  Lincoln  fully  believed  in  his  heart 
that  no  arts  of  a  demagogue  could  stand  before  it. 

During  the  progress  of  this  campaign  I  happened 
to  be  at  our  railway  station  one  day  when  the  train 
arrived  and  Mr.  Lincoln  emerged  from  one  of  the 
cars.  He  was  on  his  way  to  speak  at  the  town  of 
Winchester,  a  few  miles  from  Jacksonville.  As  we 
walked  together  to  the  hotel,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  dis- 
tant I  said:  "Mr.  Lincoln  you  must  be  having  a 
weary  time."  "  I  am,"  said  he,  "  and  if  it  were  not 
for  one  thing  I  would  retire  from  the  contest.  I 
know  that  if  Mr.  Douglas'  doctrine  x^revails  it  will 
not  be  fifteen  years  before  Illinois  itself  will  be  a 
slave  state."  So  keenly  did  he  feel  that  slavery 
must  be  arrested  before  it  subjugated  the  whole  nation. 
It  was  this  conviction  that  impelled  him.  He,  of  all 
men,  deserved  to  be  called  the  Father  of  EmanciiDa- 
tion  in  the  United  States. 

In  that  contest  for  the  Illinois  senatorship  Mr. 
Douglas  was  destined  to  win  one  more  victory  and 
his  oi^ponent  to  experience  one  more  defeat.  But 
that  contest  left  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  highway  to  the 
White  House.  It  made  him  known  to  the  nation  as 
the  statesman  whom  God  had  raised  up  to  lead  the 
host  that  fought  under  the  banner  of  liberty. 

As  an  orator,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  one  remarkable 
characteristic.  His  perfect  candor  invariably  won 
the  confidence  of  his  hearers  at  the  outset.     He  was 


THE  PROGBESS  OF  ANTI  SLAVERY  293 

always  careful  to  disentangle  liimself  from  any  fallacy 
into  which  the  advocates  of  his  own  cause  might 
have  fallen.  His  friends  would  often  be  astonished 
at  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  his  concessions. 
He  seemed  to  be  surrendering  the  whole  grouml  of 
the  debate,  leaving  not  a  square  foot  upoiv  which  his 
own  argument  could  rest.  Yet  in  the  sequel  he  made 
it  gloriously  apparent  that  the  rock  foundation  of  his 
cause  was  left,  where  no  man  could  overthrow  it.  He 
forced  even  his  bitterest  opponents  to  l^elieve  that  he 
was  at  least  candid  and  sincere.  I  am  inclined,  how- 
ever, to  think  that  in  his  varied  practice  in  the  courts 
his  candor  may  have  sometimes  stood  in  the  way  of 
his  success.  One  eminent  lawyer  said  of  him  after 
his  cruel  assassination,  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  an  excel- 
lent supreme  court  lawyer,  but  he  was  too  candid  not 
to  sometimes  damage  a  bad  cause."  I  fear  that  few 
eminent  lawyers  lay  themselves  liable  to  that  criti- 
cism. 

Mr.  Herndon,  Mr.  Lincoln's  law  partner,  has  been 
at  great  pains  to  assure  us  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not 
a  Christian,  but  an  unbeliever.  Mr.  Herndon  was  a 
very  incomx:)etent  interpreter  of  the  mind  and  the  life 
of  his  partner.  He  had  no  correct  discernment  of 
the  real  line  that  separates  the  Christian  from  the 
infidel.  How  does  he  interpret  the  golden  words  ad- 
dressed by  that  great  man  to  the  crowd  assembled 
around  the  railway  station  to  witness  his  departure 
from  Springfield  for  Washington?  What  was  the 
meaning  of  the  seemingly  earnest  request  for  the 
prayers  of  that  great  multitude?  He  recognized 
the  greatness  of  the  task  before  him  and  declared  that 
without  Divine  hell)  he  should  certainly  fail.     Were 


294  JULIAN  M.  STUETEVANT 

those  the  words  of  a  devout  believer  in  God  and  in 
prayer,  or  of  an  infidel  and  demagogue,  i)rofessing  a 
devotion  which  in  his  heart  he  despised?  We  can- 
not accept  Mr.  Herndon's  theory  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
character.  There  is  nothing  surprising  or  difficult  of 
exi3lanation  in  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not 
hitherto  openly  professed  his  faith  in  Christ  by  unit- 
ing himself  with  some  Christian  church.  Up  to  this 
time,  and  still  later,  there  must  have  been  in  his 
mind  something  of  the  same  confusion  of  ideas  under 
which  Mr.  Herndon  still  labored  when  he  pronounced 
his  distinguished  partner  an  unbeliever.  Alas!  How 
many  there  are  still  among  us  whose  minds  are  in- 
volved in  the  same  confusion.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not 
then,  it  seems  to  me,  learned  to  distinguish  between 
Christianity  as  set  forth  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  in  the  clear  concrete  form  in  which  He  taught  it, 
and  the  Christianity  of  the  modern  creed  of  technical, 
metaphysical  theology.  He  regarded  the  latter  as 
the  Christianity  of  the  Church,  and  believed  that  in 
uniting  himself  with  a  church  he  professed  implicit 
faith  in  all  the  statements  of  its  creed.  He  was  too 
candid,  too  cautious,  too  conscientious  to  make  such 
a  profession  till  he  found  his  own  mind  in  assured 
harmony  with  it.  He  took  the  Church  at  her  word 
and  thought  that  to  be  a  Christian  he  must  believe 
all  that  the  Church  teaches.  He  felt  that  for  him  to 
j)rofcss  such  a  faith  tin  Christianity  would  be  hypoc- 
risy, and  conscientiously  forebore  to  do  it.  In  after 
years  and  through  deeper  and  sadder  experiences  he 
understood  better  the  real  meaning  of  faith  in  Christ, 
and  though  to  the  hour  of  his  violent  death  he  never 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  AXTI-SLAVERV  295 

joined  the  Cliiircli,  lie  did  very  openly  declare  himself 
a  Christian.     He  confessed  Christ  before  men. 

I  must  say  that  it  seems  to  me  the  Church  might 
learn  wisdom  from  the  experience  of  such  a  man  as 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Do  we  bring  before  the  minds  of 
the  multitude  before  whom  we  are  witnesses  for 
Christianity  a  just,  i^ractical,  concrete  conception  of 
the  Christian  character  and  life?  Not  one  of  us  be- 
lieves that  the  acceptance  of  the  whole  system  of  the- 
ology set  forth  in  Calvin's  Institutes  or  in  the  Thirty^ 
nine  Articles  is  necessary  to  a  true  and  living  faith 
in  Christ.  Why  then  do  we  insist  on  the  reception 
of  theological  systems  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  upon 
the  minds  of  thousands  of  thoughtful  men  the  im- 
pression that  nothing  short  of  the  declaration  of  a 
belief  in  them,  whole  and  entire,  can  justify  any  man 
in  professing  his  faith  in  Christ?  Christianity  is  not 
a  system  of  metaphysical  philosophy.  It  is  "reiaent- 
ance  towards  God  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

Surely  we  should  make  the  practical  conception  of 
Christian  character  and  life  so  prominent  in  all  our 
constitutions  and  methods  of  procedure,  and  in  all 
our  pulpit  utterances  that  men  will  no  longer  con- 
found the  acceptance  of  metaphysical  statements  with 
that  living  faith  that  forms  character  and  saves  the 
soul.  If  we  preached  the  theology  of  Jesus  more 
and  that  of  the  schools  less,  our  hearers  would  under- 
stand the  gospel  better  and  be  more  readily  persuaded 
to  confess  Christ  before  men. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  j^rolong  the  consideration  of 
the  great  political  struggle  which  placed  Mr.  Lincoln 
at  the  head  of  the   nation,   and   thus   furnished  the 


l'~*-r-f^-emC  ■*  ■•^•^,,3    »■  ».»iifc.^t><.-  ■■Sfjfc-O  ,Ti   »•  tk  m  I    '  m    m,  mt    m  '9- 


296  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANt 

South  with  the  utterly  groundless  pretext  for  the  re- 
bellion by  which  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  issue 
the  proclamation  of  emancipation.  It  was  a  military 
necessity,  else  with  his  views  of  the  Constitution  he 
never  would  have  issued  it,  but  to  his  heart  it  was 
also  a  precious  opportunity.  The  agitation  of  the 
ocean  by  the  fiercest  gale  is  no  adequate  illustration 
of  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1860.  The  hurricane 
only  stirs  the  surface  of  the  ocean.  That  j^olitical 
excitement  moved  the  community  to  its  very  depths. 
The  mighty  passions  that  affected  millions  of  hearts 
simultaneously,  the  elevation  of  men's  souls  with  pat- 
riotic fervor,  the  hoj)es  of  many  for  the  speedy  tri- 
umi^h  of  righteousness,  alternating  with  inexpressible 
horror  at  the  thought  of  its  defeat,  the  x^rofound  ad- 
miration with  which  the  defenders  of  the  right  were 
regarded,  and  the  unspeakable  aversion  excited 
against  those  who  were  seeking  to  exalt  opj)ression; 
all  these  conflicting  elements  mingling  in  our  own 
streets  and  around  our  own  firesides  rapidly  formed 
and  intensified  iudividual  and  national  character.  It 
is  in  such  convulsions  as  this  that  princij)les  are 
tested,  and  by  them  the  course  of  civilization  for  long 
future  ages  is  determined.  In  the  progress  of  the 
great  struggle  that  followed  I  had  good  reason  to 
know  by  personal  observation  that  other  nations  had 
scarcely  the  faintest  conception  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  events  transpiring  in  the  United  States. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  has  passed  into  history. 
It  is  worth  while,  however,  to  observe  how  differ- 
ently the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  was  regarded  by  the 
great  mass  of  American  citizens  who  composed  the 
Republican  party  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  adherents 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANThSLAVERY  21)7 

and  advocates  of  slavery,  in  the  8  )uth,  and  all  over 
the  world,  on  the  other.  Tiu»  former  had  no  ex- 
pectation, most  of  them  hardly  a  fear,  that  a  war 
would  result  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  election.  With 
them  it  was  not  a  declaration  of  war,  but  a 
peaceful  yet  emphatic  assertion  of  their  opinions,  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  laws  and  the  Constitution 
of  their  country,  and  they  could  not  believe  that  their 
brethren  in  the  South  were  rash  and  wicked  enough 
to  raise  an  armed  insurrection  because  they  had  been 
defeated,  in  a  lawful  way,  at  the  polls. 

On  the  other  hand  Southern  statesmen  and  their 
sympathizers  in  the  North  did  expect  that  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  the  signal  for  the  out- 
break of  a  gigantic  armed  rebellion.  When  the  news 
of  Mr.  Lincoln's  election  arrived  in  Jacksonville,  a 
great  ecclesiastical  convention  was  in  session  here. 
On  hearing  the  announcement,  a  very  prominent 
member  of  that  body,  an  enthusiastic  adherent  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  wept  like  a  child,  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  there 
will  be  war."  While  we  of  the  North  scarcely  be- 
lieved the  conflict  possible,  and  while  Mr.  Lincoln's 
sagacious  secretary,  Mr.  Seward,  was  saying:  "The 
contest  will  be  over  in  ninety  days,"  it  was  perfectly 
understood  throughout  the  British  empire  that  there 
would  be  a  great  civil  war  in  the  United  States.  The 
South  already  i^ossessed  sufficient  influence  in 
EuroiDe  to  produce  a  general  conviction  that  if  the 
EejDublican  party  carried  the  election  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union  and  civil  war  were  inevitable.  Nothing 
can  be  more  certain  than  that  during  all  the  tremen- 
dous excitement  of  the  canvass,  war  and  bloodshed 
were  far  from  the  thought  of  the  Republican  leaders 


298  JULIAN  M.  STUBTEVANT 

and  the  great  mass  of  Republican  voters.  They 
believed  in  liberty  and  were  determined  to  vote  for  it 
within  the  limit  of  the  Constitution.  The  one  party 
meant  peace  and  liberty  for  the  long  future,  the  other 
meant  slavery  and  the  shedding  of  as  much  blood  as 
should  be  necessary  to  perpetuate  it. 

[The  following  extracts  from  my  father's  corres- 
pondence with  President  Lincoln  and  the  dis- 
tinguished "  war  governor  "  of  Illinois  will  illustrate 
what  has  been  said  in  this  chapter. — Ed.'\ 

Springfield,  Sept.  27,  1856. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

Owing  to  absence  yours  of  the  16th,  was  not  re- 
ceived until  the  day  before  yesterday.  I  thank  you  for  your 
good  opinion  of  me  personally,  and  still  more  for  the  deep 
interest  you  take  in  the  cause  of  our  common  country.  It  pains 
me  a  little  that  you  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  point 
out  to  me  how  I  may  be  compensated  for  throwing  myself  in  the 
breach  now.  This  assumes  that  I  am  merely  calculating  the 
chances  of  personal  advancement.  Let  me  assure  you  that  I 
decline  to  be  a  candidate  for  congress,  on  my  clear  conviction . 
that  my  running  would  hurt  and  not  hel}}  the  cause.  I  am  wili- 
ng to  make  any  personal  sacrifice,  but  I  am  not  willing  to  do, 
what  in  my  own  judgment,  is  a  sacrifice  of  the  cause  itself. 

Very  Truly  Yours, 

A.  Lincoln. 
Springfield;  18th  September,  1862. 
My  Dear  Sir: 

I  steal  a  few  moments  from  the  more  immediate 
duties  to  say  a  word  to  you.  ...  I  have  only  time  to  say 
that  I  leave  here  for  Chicago  on  Saturday  morning,  and  from 
thence  go  to  attend  the  Governor's  meeting  at  Altoona,  Pa.  I 
wish,  before  I  arrive  at  that  meeting,  to  hear  from  you  respect- 
ing your  views  of  the  present  state  of  the  country.  We  are 
passing  through  a  terrible  crisis.  No  one  can  look  a  day  ahead, 
or  tell  what  a  moment  may  reveal.  Disasters,  political  and 
military,    have   led    to  speculations  regarding  military  despot- 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI-SLAVERY  299 

isms,  and  looking  to  the  dismemberment  of  our  once  free  and 
glorious  government,  and  the  general  upheaval  of  the  founda- 
tions of  society.  As  for  myself,  I  have  to  act  day  and  night  and 
have  but  little  time  to  think  or  ponder  upon  the  great  historic 
events  of  the  hour.  I  therefore  request  your  assistance  and 
cooperation.  I  know  you  have  the  country's  welfare  at  heart. 
You  have  time  to  scan  the  signs  of  the  times.  Your  heart  beats 
responsive  to  all  true  progress,  and  your  views  will  have  weight 
with  me  and  assist  me  in  determining  my  course.     .     .     . 

Hoping  to  hear  from  you  at  length  I  remain,  with  high 
respect, 

Yours  Truly, 

Richard  Yates,  Governor. 

Illinois  College,  Sept.  20,  18G2. 
My"  Dear  Sir: 

Yours  is  just  received.  .  .  .  My  mind  is  of  late 
most  solemnly  impressed  with  the  unwavering  conviction  that  the 
war  is  an  inevitable,  a  logical  necessity  of  our  history.  The 
Constitution  was  intended  to  guarantee  and  perpetuate  freedom 
— freedom  of  thought,  utterance  and  action — the  individual 
moral  freedom  of  every  man.  The  system  of  slavery  is,  in  all 
its  spirit  and  jirinciples,  contradictory  to  this.  So  it  has  always 
shown  itself  in  all  our  history.  The  most  precious  and  funda- 
mental provisions  in  the  Constitution,  always  have  been  utterly 
inoperative  in  all  those  states  in  which  slavery  is  dominant 
What  freedom  of  speech  was  there  ever  in  South  Carolina? 
When  did  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of 
citizenship  under  the  constitution  in  that  state?  Witness  the 
case  of  Mr.  Hoar  at  Charleston.  When  could  the  mail  regula- 
tions of  the  United  States  be  executed  in  the  Slave  States?  How 
much  force  has  there  been  for  years  past  in  our  laws  against  the 
slave  trade?  The  most  fundamental  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion have  always  been  resisted  and  rendered  inoperative  wher- 
ever slavery  reigns.  And  this  resistance  has  been  growing  more 
intense  year  by  year,  till  it  has  culminated  in  the  present 
rebellion.     .     .     . 

The  semblance  of  union  between  the  free  principles  of  the 
Constitution  and  slavery  is  now  no  longer  possible.  The  advo- 
cates of  slavery  are  thoroughly  aroused.     They  see  with  vivid 


300  JULIAN  31.  STURTEVANT 

clearness  the  contradiction  between  the  glorious  personal,  moral 
freedom  of  the  Constitution  and  their  system.  They  will  never 
consent  to  reunion  on  the  old  terms.  The  only  union  which 
they  will  not  resist  to  the  death  is  the  union  of  Valandigham, 
which  regards  freedom  of  utterance  against  slavery  as  not  less 
treasonable  than  armed  rebellion. 

How  then  can  the  nation  be  restored  to  peace  and  unity 
again?  Not  by  compromise  between  the  two  contending  forces; 
that  has  been  sufficiently  tried.  One  of  three  things  must 
happen.  Either  (1)  Freedom  must  bear  universal  sway,  or  (2) 
The  whole  nation  must  be  subjected  to  a  relentless  slaveholding 
despotism,  or  (3)  We  must  plunge  into  the  unfathomable  deep 
of  dismemberment.  Between  these  three  the  nation  must  make 
its  choice.  The  second  is,  I  trust  in  God,  not  only  inadmissable 
but  impossible.  There  are  millions  who  will  resist  it  till  all  our 
rivers  run  blood. 

I  believe  the  third  to  be  impossible.  I  have  no  hope  that  any 
attempt  to  divide  our  territory  and  our  resources  between  the 
forces  of  freedom  and  slavery  so  that  each  shall,  in  peace,  enjoy 
and  develop  its  own,  can  result  in  anything  but  generations  of 
conflict  and  blood.  I  think  we  are  shut  up  to  the  first  as  our 
only  hope  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

If  this  conclusion  is  admitted,  then  the  Union  has  but  one 
enemy.  That  is  not  Jeff.  Davis;  not  even  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy. It  is  slavery.  Against  that  we  must  earnestly,  openly 
direct  all  the  storm  and  fury  of  war.  We  must  hasten  to  make 
known  in  every  slave  cabin  in  the  South,  and  in  the  mansion  of 
every  master,  that  the  Federal  Government  invites  the  slave  to 
frsedom,  and  to  put  forth  his  own  efforts  in  vindicating  it 
against  the  unrighteous  claims  of  his  oppressor.  So  far  as 
loyal  masters  can  be  reconciled  to  this  policy  by  compensation, 
we  must  compensate  them.     .     .     . 

I  pray  the  God  of  our  Fathers  to  give  to  that  noble  band  of 
executive  chief  Magistrates  of  these  loyal  states,  wisdom  to  dis- 
cern the  path  of  the  nation's  safety,  and  holy  energy  and  cour- 
age to  pursue  it,  in  the  face  of  all  difficulties  and  dangers,  till 
freedom  triumphs,  and  a  peace  is  established  on  the  durable 
foundations  of  justice  to  all  men.  If  my  voice  could  be  heard 
in  their   presence,   I   would   say:    'In  the  policy  which  I  have 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  ANTI  SLAVERY  301 

pointed  out,  I  see,  if  not  a  certainty,  at  least  a  hopeful  possibil- 
ity of  peace  and  freedom  to  our  dear  country.  I  cannot  discern 
even  a  possibility  of  such  an  outcome  from  any  other  line  of 
policy.' 

Yours  very  respectfully  and  affectionately, 

J.  M.  Sturtcvant. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

A  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND. 

The  eflPect  of  the  war  upon  all  the  institutions  of 
learning  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  very 
disastrous,  and  for  two  reasons:  First,  it  drew  the 
choicest  young  men  of  the  country  from  the  i)eaceful 
walks  of  learning  to  the  camp  and  the  battle-field. 
For  a  time  many  of  the  colleges  were  almost  without 
students.  In  that  respect  the  effects  of  the  war  were 
for  the  last  three  years  of  its  duration  nearly  as  dis- 
astrous as  was  the  French  Kevolution  to  France. 
Again,  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  which  resulted 
from  the  Legal  Tender  Act  shattered  our  finances. 
The  salaries  of  the  teachers  had  been  very  moderate 
before  the  war,  and  when  reduced  in  value  by  a 
depreciation  of  the  currency  to  less  than  fifty  cents 
on  the  dollar  they  became  entirely  inadequate  to  the 
support  of  the  teachers  and  their  families.  The  in- 
stutitutions  had  no  resources  from  which  to  draw  for 
any  increase  of  salaries.  For  these  reasons  the  period 
of  the  war  was  one  of  great  depression  and  embarrass- 
ment to  Illinois   College. 

In  the  winter  of  1863  the  Senior  class  broke  down 
entirely,  not  a  single  member  being  left.  My  duties 
as  instructor  were  entirely  with  that  class.  In  this 
state  of  things  my  friend  Eliphalet  W.  Blatchford,  of 
Chicago,  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1845,  proposed  to 
pay   my   expenses    to    England    on  condition  that  I 

302 


A  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  803 

would  go  abroad  as  a  representative  and  advocate  of 
tlie  Northern  cause.  It  was  regarded  by  him  and 
many  others  as  exceedingly  imjjortant  that  no  pains 
should  be  spared  on  our  part  to  correct  the  false  im- 
pressions then  prevailing  in  England  and  Scotland 
respecting  the  principles  involved  in  the  war  and  its 
relations  to  the  freedom  of  the  negro.  I  could  not 
hesitate  to  accept  the  i^roi^osition,  though  I  feared  at 
the  time  that  my  friend  had  greatly  overestimated 
my  ability  to  render  any  valuable  service  on  such  a 
mission.  Had  I  known  before  leaving  home  the 
state  of  British  sentiment  toward  America  as  I  found 
it  during  the  first  fortnight  of  my  stay  in  England,  I 
should  never  have  consented  to  undertake  the  journey. 
Between  the  date  of  Mr.  Blatchford's  proposition 
and  the  sailing  of  the  steamer  there  was  an  interval  of 
scarcely  ten  days,  but  at  the  time  apj)ointed  I  was  on 
the  deck  of  the  "  City  of  Washington "  bound  for 
Liverpool.  During  those  ten  days  I  had  a  painful 
recurrance  of  my  inborn  aversion  to  great  changes. 
I  had  no  sooner  accepted  Mr.  Blatchford's  generous 
offer  and  begun  in  earnest  to  prepare  for  the  voyage 
than  I  was  filled  with  a  most  unreasonable  dread  of 
placing  the  Atlantic  ocean  between  me  and  my  native 
land,  and  engaging  among  unfamiliar  scenes  in  a  serv- 
ice which  seemed  to  me  so  difficult  and  important. 
\Yhile  on  the  way  to  the  pier  it  would  have  been  an 
unspeakable  relief  to  have  turned  my  face  homeward. 
But  T  have  never  yielded  to  those  morbid  impulses. 
On  board  I  found  my  dear  friends  Colonel  and  Mrs 
C.  Gr.  Hammond  of  Chicago,  who  were  to  be  my  fel- 
low passengers.  When  the  steamer  was  well  under 
way   down   the  harbor    my  unreasonable  depression 


304  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVAXT 

vanished,  and  I  felt  as  light  and  cheerful  as  a  bird  on 
the  wing  until  I  succumbed  to  a  malady  that  spares 
neither  light  hearts  or  strong  wills.  When  we  crossed 
the  bar  off  Sandy  Hook  and  felt  the  first  swell  of  the 
ocean,  without  the  slightest  warning  I  was  smitten 
with  a  desiderate  seasickness  that  kept  me  a  close 
prisoner  several  days.  One  morning  the  genial  cap- 
tain sent  a  delegation,  among  whom  was  Col.  Ham- 
mond, to  my  state=room  to  bring  me  on  deck.  After 
much  hesitation,  persistent  trials  and  many  failures 
with  the  help  of  a  strong  man  on  either  side  I  was 
taken  before  the  smiling  commander,  and  was  finally 
left  by  my  friends  in  a  comfortaljle  spot  to  breathe 
the  fresh  air  and  sleep.  From  that  time  I  gradually 
recovered,  and  was  able  to  greatly  enjoy  the  latter 
part  of  the  voyage. 

Two  sights  in  the  last  half  of  our  trip  particularly 
impressed  me,  the  first  being  an  iceberg  which, 
though  seen  from  a  long  distance,  plainly  revealed 
the  beautiful  green  color  of  glacial  ice.  The  second 
was  a  burial  at  sea.  The  deceased  was  an  English- 
man who  had  been  among  the  early  immigrants  to 
California,  where  he  had  amassed  a  fortune  by  many 
years  of  toil.  He  was  returning  to  England,  where 
he  exj)ected  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  labors.  Grreatly 
prostrated  by  the  voyage,  he  died  in  mid=ocean. 
Nothing  could  dissuade  the  captain  and  sailors  from 
their  determination  to  bury  him  in  the  sea.  Accord- 
ingly the  body  was  placed  in  a  rough  deal  box  heavily 
weighted  at  the  foot,  and  born  to  the  gunwale,  upon 
which  it  rested  till  the  captain  with  uncovered  head 
reverently  read  the  burial  service.  At  the  words 
"  dust  to  dust  and  ashes  to  ashes  "  the  sailors  standing 


A   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  305 

with  uncovered  heads  pushed  the  coffin  outward.  It 
assumed  a  vertical  position  in  the  air  and  instantly 
disappeared  beneath  the  nii<>hty  waters.  Meanwhile 
the  enu:ine  that  was  proj)elling  us  rapidly  onward 
missed  not  a  single  revolution.  The  scene  left  a  most 
painful  impression  upon  my  mind. 

The  length  of  ocean  voyages  has  been  consider- 
ably abridged  since  1863.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
12th  day  we  sighted  the  Irish  highlands  and  about 
sunset  off  Cape  Clear  the  pilot  came  aboard.  During 
the  same  evening  we  transferred  the  mails  for  Queen- 
stown  and  continued  the  voyage.  That  was  a  beau- 
tiful moonlight  evening,  and  I  shall  never  forget  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  my  fellow  passengers  and  I 
listened  to  American  patriotic  songs  rendered  by 
excellent  singers  on  the  deck.  We  were  on  British 
waters,  but  our  hearts  were  in  the  beloved  land  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sea.  Rising  betimes  next  morn- 
ning  I  found  the  vessel  skirting  the  Irish  coast  so 
near,  that  fields  and  dwellings  could  be  distinctly  seen. 
The  beautiful  mountains  of  Wales  were  soon  in  view, 
and  we  turned  northward  into  St.  George's  Channel, 
In  the  dusk  of  the  evening  we  entered  the  Irish  Sea 
and  headed  directly  for  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey. 

When  I  awoke  next  morning  we  were  safely  docked 
at  Liverpool,  and  a  bright  dream  of  my  childhood  had 
been  realized.  On  landing  we  were  amused  at  our 
futile  efforts  to  secure  a  two- horse  carriage  to  convey 
Colonel  and  Mrs.  Hammond  and  myself,  with  our 
"  luggage,"  to  the  Washington  Hotel.  We  then 
learned  that  there  were  no  such  carriages  for  hire  in 
Liverpool. 

We  had  not  been  long  upon  the  streets  before  we 


306  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

were  shocked  by  the  discovery  that  the  whole  city 
was  in  a  state  of  high  excitement  and  seeming  exul- 
tation over  certain  reports  of  serious  reverses  to  the 
Union  army,  which  had  come  over  on  the  same 
steamer  with  ourselves.  Although  in  the  mother 
country  and  hearing  on  every  hand  the  mother  tongue, 
we  constantly  listened  to  expressions  of  sympathy 
with  the  enemies  of  the  Union  cause.  We  could 
hardly  believe  our  ears.  This  painful  experience 
which  continued,  though  with  cheering  interruptions, 
as  long  as  I  remained  on  British  soil,  filled  me  at 
first  with  discouragement,  but  a  few  liberal  meals  in 
a  good  British  hotel  and  a  night's  lodging  in  a  good 
English  bed  restored  in  some  degree  my  cordial 
feeling  toward  my  English  cousins,  and  I  was  j)re- 
pared  to  enter  with  good  courage  and  good  temper 
upon  the  patriotic  undertaking  which  was  before  me 
Few  experiences  of  my  life  have  astonished  me 
more  than  the  representations  made  by  eminent 
Englishmen  with  respect  to  British  public  sentiment 
at  that  time.  In  adresses  that  have  been  quoted  in 
our  jDeriodicals,  and  in  speeches  I  have  myself  heard, 
these  distinguished  men  have  evidently  intended  to 
represent  that  the  great  majority  of  the  English 
common  people  were  during  the  war  decidedly  in 
favor  of  the  Union  cause.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I 
have  never  conversed  with  an  observant  friend  of  our 
cause  from  this  side  of  the  water  who  was  in  England 
in  1863  without  finding  a  witness  to  the  incorrectness 
of  such  statements.  I  x)urpose  in  this  chapter  to  give 
from  my  own  observation  some  illustrations  of  the 
symioathy  entertained  in  Great  Britain  for  the  South 
in  that  crisis  in  our  national  history. 


A  VISIT  TO  EXGLAND  807 

Almost  immediately  upon  my  arrival  I  be<2;an  to 
present  letters  of  introduction,  with  which  I  had  been 
kindly  furnished,  to  Ensj^lishmen  of  hii^h  standing  and 
known  sympathy  with  the  Union.  One  of  these  was 
addressed  to  David  Stuart  Esq.,  a  prominent  mer- 
chant of  Liverpool,  and  brother  of  George  H.  Stuart 
of  Philadelphia,  the  well  known  patriot  and  philan- 
thropist. My  reception  was  most  cordial.  Having 
been  invited  to  preach  on  the  following  Sabbath  at 
the  United  Presbyterian  church  of  Birkenhead, 
where  Mr.  Stuart  resided,  I  accomiDanied  the  family 
home  to  dine.  When  the  couA'ersation  at  the  table 
turned  toward  American  affairs,  I  felt  warranted  by 
the  pronounced  and  intelligent  Union  sentiments  of 
my  host  in  expressing  myself  with  joerfect  freedom. 
I  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  jiresent  some  who  were  as  intense 
in  their  Southern  sympathies  as  was  the  host  in  his 
adherence  to  the  North.  I  encountered  similar  div- 
ision of  sentiment  in  the  homes  of  several  other  well 
known  English  advocates  of  the  Union  cause.  Such 
facts  magnify  America's  debt  of  gratitude  to  those 
w^ho  were  her  friends  in  those  dark  hours. 

I  arrived  in  London  during  the  May  Anniversaries, 
and  a  few  days  later  was  invited  to  a  soiree  at  New 
College,  London,  an  institution  under  the  control  of 
the  Congregationalists.  Here  as  everywhere  the 
general  topic  of  conversation  was  the  "  Great  Ameri- 
can Conflict,''  for  that  was  then  almost  as  universal  a 
theme  in  England  as  in  America.  During  the 
evening,  in  the  presence  of  several  leading  ministers, 
the  famous  Newman  Hall,  well  known  and  always 
higly   honored  in  America,  uttered  these  words:  "I 


M»  ■!■  HH  ■»   - 


308  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

am  for  tlie  North  by  all  means,  but  I  well  understand 
that  you  are  only  fighting  for  a  boundary  line.  The 
restoration  of  the  Union  is  impossible."  And  he 
strongly  emphasized  the  last  word.  I  answered,  "You 
perceive,  gentlemen,  that  I  cannot  reply  on  such  an 
occasion  as  this.  I  need  time  to  define  and  explain." 
John  Graham,  one  of  the  party,  at  once  invited  all  of 
the  group  to  breakfast  at  his  house  on  the  next  day 
but  one,  saying:  "We  will  hear  this  thing  out."  All 
were  present  at  the  aj^pointed  time  exept  Mr.  Hall, 
who  excused  himself  on  account  of  an  unexpected  call 
to  the  country.  My  conversation  with  him  was 
unfortunately  never  resumed. 

Breakfast  was  served  at  9  o'clock.  After  two  hours 
at  the  table  we  retired  to  the  parlor,  where  the  con- 
versation was  continued  till  after  2  P.  M.  My  posi- 
tion was  that  we  were  indeed  fighting  for  a  boundary, 
but  that  boundary  was  the  original  one,  and  it  would 
be  far  easier  to  reestablish  that  than  to  draw  across 
the  continent  a  line  that  should  mark  the  limits  of 
two  separate  nations.  Such  a  permanent  separation, 
I  contended,  could  be  accomplished  only  by  foreign 
intervention  a  method  that  would  prove  surprisingly 
difficult  and  expensive  to  any  nation  possessing  the 
temerity  to  attempt  it.  I  urged  that  without  foreign 
intervention,  the  war  must  go  on  till  one  party  or  the 
other  was  exhausted,  when  the  victor  would  restore 
and  govern  the  Union. 

There  was  one  special  reason  why  the  English 
could  not,  at  that  time,  understand  the  issues  of  our 
war.  I  was  taught  from  childhood  to  venerate 
England.  I  love  her  and  her  scenery  and  many  of 
her  institutions  still  seem  to  me  as  parts  of  my  dear 


A     VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  309 

native  land.  But  to  sjieak  the  plain  truth,  deep  down 
in  the  heart  of  every  Briton  there  is  the  assumption 
of  a  political  sagacity  to  be  found  nowhere  outside  of 
Albion.  DeTocqueville  says  of  us  Americans  that 
we  are  not  far  from  having  reached  the  conclusion 
that  we  belong  to  a  suj)erior  race  of  beings,  because 
in  our  hands  alone  democratic  institutions  have 
proved  successful.  But,  wutatis  niufdiKlis,  the  re- 
mark would  apply  with  still  greater  pertinency  to  the 
English.  They  have  established  and  so  maintained  a 
limited  monarchy  as  to  secure  under  it  a  high  degree 
of  prosperity  and  social  order,  while  nearly  all  other 
experiments  in  the  same  direction  have  proved  signal 
failures.  In  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  a  major- 
ity of  the  Queen's  subjects  enjoyed  the  comforting 
assurance  that  they  alone  understood  the  i^rinciples 
of  free  government. 

Englands  liberty  is  unique.  It's  like  never  has  ex- 
isted and  never  can  exist  outside  of  that  emj)ire.  I 
admire  England's  institutions.  I  venerate  her  states 
manship.  The  conflicts  of  the  past  have  brought 
about  in  her  a  marvelous  balance  of  forces.  The 
monarchy,  the  aristocracy  and  the  jpeople  have  each  a 
place  in  the  system,  and  the  strong  conservative  ten- 
dencies of  an  old  and  wealthy  community  are  har- 
monized with  the  j)rogressive  impulses  of  a  singularly 
energetic  race.  I  believe  that  the  attempt  to  trans- 
plant the  English  idea  of  a  limited  monarchy  to  other 
lands  will  alwnys  ])rove  a  disastrous  failure. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  an  American  was  con- 
fronted on  every  side  by  the  claim  of  political  superi- 
ority. He  was  really  deemed  incapable  of  under- 
standing or  discussing  politics,   having  never  been 


310  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

taught  in  the  English  school.  Forgetting  England's 
many  civil  wars,  our  cousins  assumed  that  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  proved  the  essential  weakness  of  our 
whole  system.  "The  bubble  has  burst"  exclaimed  a 
noble  Lord  in  the  English  Parliament.  "  The  Great 
Republic  is  no  more,"  echoed  the  London  Times,  and 
millions  of  English  voices  reiterated  the  sentiment. 
Americans  argued  against  this  prejudgment  almost 
in  vain  until  our  cause  had  been  vindicated  by  the 
God  of  Battles. 

At  an  early  day  I  presented  a  letter  of  introduction 
from  my  much  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Joseph  P. 
Thompson,  to  Sir  Richard  Cobden.  He  received  me 
with  every  mark  of  kindness,  and  ajjpointed  an  early 
day  to  welcome  me  to  breakfast  at  his  house.  It  was 
perfectly  "unceremonious,  none  being  present  except 
himself,  his  wife  and  his  daughter.  This  was  precise- 
ly what  I  desired.  Few  conversations  in  my  life 
have  equalled  that  one  in  interest  and  instruetiveness. 
Mr.  Cobden  in  a  conversation  of  two  hours  in  length 
exhibited  no  trace  of  the  prevailing  national  preju- 
dice. He  placed  me  perfectly  at  my  ease,  and  an- 
swered all  my  inquiries  with  the  utmost  i^ossible 
frankness  and  fairness.  Greatly  to  my  own  astonish- 
ment he  confirmed  all  the  impressions  I  had  thus  far 
formed  respecting  the  attitude  of  the  English  people 
toward  the  American  conflict.  I  begged  earnestly 
that  he  would  explain  it.  He  replied  nearly  as 
follows : 

"There  is  nothing  unaccountable  in  it.  We  are 
governed  by  an  aristocracy  and  a  State  Church. 
These  institutions  stand  at  the  head  of  society  and 
are  able  to  make  their  influence  penetrate  far  down 


A   VISIT  TO  EXGLASD  311 

into  the  lower  strata.  You  are  governed  without  an 
aristocracy  and  a  State  Church,  aud  those  who  are 
interested  in  jjreserving  these  institutions  fear  that 
if  you  continue  to  prosper  as  you  have  done,  the  com- 
mon people  will  be  led  to  conclude  that  we  also  may 
dispense  with  these  expensive  luxuries.  They  there- 
fore rejoice  to  see  you  in  trouble,  and  those  larg^ 
portions  of  the  English  people  over  whom  the  aris- 
tocracy and  the  State  Church  are  able  to  extend  their 
influence  sympathize  with  their  leaders.' 

I  parted  with  Mr.  Cobden  with  i^rofound  feelings 
of  gratitude  for  my  own  and  for  my  country's  sake, 
and  full  of  admiration  for  his  character  and  his  ca- 
reer. England  should  be  held  in  everlasting  honor 
for  having  produced  such  a  statesman.  His  acquain- 
tance with  the  whole  history  of  our  struggle  and  all 
the  princix^les  which  it  involved  was  most  comprehen- 
sive, accurate  and  thorough.  Xo  American  knew  us 
better  than  Richard  Cobden. 

As  I  was  taking  my  leave  he  followed  me  to  the 
door,  and  looking  out  upon  the  street  he  noticed  that 
it  vras  sloppy  from  recent  rain.  Alluding  to  the  fact 
he  added,  "  But  you  will  not  mind  English  mud. 
You  are  from  Illinois."  He  had  previously  visited 
Jacksonville,  having  come  to  investigate  the  affairs 
of  the  English  colony  west  of  the  city,  and  had 
floundered  in  Illinois  mud.  The  soul  sunshine  of 
that  morning  seemed  to  banish  all  the  shadows  that 
had  gathered  on  my  pathway  in  England,  and  was 
worth  all  the  trouble  of  my  transatlantic  voyage. 

I  was  at  first  greatly  astonished  at  Mr.  Cobden's 
representation  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Eng- 
lish  aristocracy   upon   public  opinion.     But  subse- 


312  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANf 

quent  observation  fully  confirmed  his  views.  It  is 
nearly  as  difficult  for  an  American  to  understand  the 
position  of  the  British  aristocracy  as  it  was  for  an 
Englishman  to  comprehend  that  Congress  had  no 
power  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  United  States,  a  fact 
that  not  a  dozen  English  subjects  with  whom  I  con- 
versed could  grasp.  The  circumstance  in  relation  to 
the  nobility  which  caused  me  the  greatest  x>ei"ple'xity 
was  the  influence  it  exerted  over  the  lower  classes, 
and  especially  over  that  portion  of  the  common 
people  whose  wealth  and  influence  placed  them  near- 
est to  it  in  rank.  It  is  my  impression  that  I  was  not 
very  unlike  other  Americans  in  supposing  that  a 
commoner,  independent  in  fortune,  and  a  Congrega- 
tional dissenter  in  his  religious  connections,  would 
regard  the  aristocracy  with  all  its  numerous  peculiar 
privileges  much  as  we  would  regard  a  privileged  class 
among  ourselves.  If  such  sentiments  exist  in  Eng- 
land they  are  certainly  of  very  recent  origin.  While 
conversing  with  some  of  the  most  intelligent  and  lib- 
erahminded  Congregational  ministers  I  found  it  nec- 
essary to  be  exceedingly  cautious  not  to  indicate  in 
any  way  my  anti^aristocratic  feelings,  lest  the  conver- 
sation should  be  diverted  from  American  affairs. 
Any  disparaging  utterance  with  respect  to  the  aris- 
tocracy w^ould  at  once  rally  all  hearers  to  its  defense, 
and  thus  for  the  time  at  least  exclude  America  from 
the  discussion.  At  a  delightful  social  gathering  in 
Bristol  I  was  betrayed  into  the  assertion  that  England 
is  the  most  aristocratic  country  in  the  world.  The 
earnest  but  good=natured  protest  of  the  entire  com- 
pany soon  forced  me  to  retreat  as  gracefully  as  cir- 


A   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  313 

cumstances  would  permit,  although  none  well  versed 
in  English  history  will  dispute  the  proposition. 

Aristocracy  must  be  seen  and  studied  to  be  under- 
stood. Americans  often  said  in  tho.se  days:  "It  is 
not  the  English  people  who  are  against  us,  it  is  the 
aristocracy."  Had  they  understood  the  problem  bet- 
ter they  would  have  known  that  if  the  aristocracy 
were  against  us  the  great  body  of  the  English  Church 
would  also  oppose  us,  and  the  Church  and  the  aris- 
tocracy combined  would  carry  the  British  Enii^ire 
with  them.  Mr.  Cobden's  remark  was  strictly  true. 
The  influence  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  State  Church 
penetrate  to  the  lowest  stratum  of  society.  We  often 
erroneously  divide  English  society  into  two  great 
clas.ses.  There  is  Ijut  one  word  that  can  explain  the 
social  order  of  Great  Britain.  That  word  is  )'(()ik'. 
But  there  are  not  simply  two  ranks,  there  is  an  in- 
definite number  of  them,  each  quite  distinctly  and 
permanently  marked.  Ancient  laws  and  immemorial 
usages  have  created  and  maintained  the  privileges  of 
the  aristocracy.  Custom  has  done  the  rest.  It  has 
separated  the  social  pyramid  into  an  indefinite  num- 
ber of  parallel  planes,  each  stratum  rejDresenting  a 
distinct  class. 

Hence  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Independents  with 
whom  I  had  most  frequent  association,  some  of  them 
occupying  i^ositions  second  only  to  the  aristocracy  it- 
self, seemed  more  anxious  to  maintain  their  own  su- 
periority over  the  ranks  below  than  to  encroach  upon 
the  single  rank  above  them.  They  regarded  their 
superiors  with  peculiar  reverence  and  affection,  and 
some  even  cherished  the  hope  of  gaining  admission  to 


314  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

the  highest  rank,  if  not  for  themselves  at  least  for  their 
children.  This  is  the  only  key  which  can  unlock  the 
social  problem  of  England.  Reverence  for  rank  holds 
English  society  with  all  its  extremes  together,  and 
seems  to  unify  the  whole. 

In  my  numerous  conversations  on  the  American 
conflict  I  often  attempted  to  confirm  the  opinions 
which  I  expressed  upon  cognate  questions  by  the  au- 
thority of  Mr.  Cobden.  I  found  it,  however,  of  little 
use,  for  I  was  almost  sure  to  meet  the  same  reply,  em- 
phasized by  a  sneer:  "Cobden  isn't  English."  True, 
Mr.  Cobden  was  the  father  of  that  system  of  free 
trade  in  which  every  Englishman  then  gloried  as  an 
honor  and  blessing  to  his  country,  but  it  was  well 
known  that  he  was  not  an  advocate  of  the  j)erpetuity 
of  the  aristocracy  and  the  State  Church,  and  had  not 
the  least  symjDathy  with  the  Southern  rebellion,  and 
therefore  even  Independents  of  eminent  intelligence 
were  willing  to  charge  him  with  having  abjured  his 
nationality. 

My  excellent  friend,  President  Porter  of  Yale  Col- 
lege, had  given  me  a  letter  to  a  bookseller  in  London, 
saying  that  he  was  an  original  character  whose  con- 
versation would  greatly  interest  me.  In  one  of  our 
interviews  he  gave  me  his  history.  Just  after  reach- 
ing his  majority  he  was  left  with  the  care  of  a  wid- 
owed mother  and  several  brothers  and  sisters.  In  or- 
der to  meet  their  necessities,  he  cut  short  his  education 
and  immediately  became  a  bookseller.  He  prospered 
and  educated  his  younger  brother  at  Oxford  and  fitted 
him  for  the  Church.  "  Now,"  said  he,  "  that  brother 
will  not  visit  me.  He  says  that  I  ought  not  to  expect 
it  because  I  keep  this  bookstore.     It  would  not  be 


A   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  315 

proper,  as  we  are  not  of  the  same  rank.  One  day," 
he  continued,  "  not  long  since,  as  I  was  on  the  street, 
I  saw  him  apiDroaching  arm  in  arm  with  the  Bishoi) 
of  Oxford.  Just  before  we  met  I  heard  him  say  to 
the  Bishop,  '  will  your  Lordship  excuse  me  for  a  mo- 
ment  while  I  sjDeak  to  my  bookseller?'  He  stepj)ed 
aside  and  held  a  brief  conversation  with  me  and  then 
rejoined  the  Bishop.  The  worst  of  it,"  he  added,  "is 
that  his  statement  was  false,  for  I  am  not  now  and 
never  was  his  bookseller."  Subsequently  the  same 
man  said  to  me:  "  I  attend  church,  and  after  the  con- 
gregation is  dismissed  while  yet  in  the  church  ray  ac- 
quaintances will  recognize  me  in  a  very  friendly  way, 
but  afterward  on  the  street  they  meet  me  as  an  utter 
stranger."  I  asked  him  if  he  attended  the  Estab- 
lished church.  He  replied  that  he  did.  "That," 
said  I,  "seems  very  strange,  for  the  Established 
church  is  the  key=stone  of  the  arch  under  which  you 
are  crushed."  He  saw  the  inconsistency  but  ofPered 
no  apology.  I  fear  that  by  attending  the  Established 
church  he  won  and  retained  customers.  In  reflecting 
upon  this  conversation  his  statement  seemed  almost 
incredible.  I  therefore  embraced  an  early  opportun- 
ity to  ask  i^ersons  familiar  with  the  usages  of  Eng- 
lish society  whether  such  things  could  really  be  true, 
and  was  invariably  answered, "  Nothing  is  more  j)rob- 
able."  This  story  may  shed  some  light  on  the  con- 
dition of  English  society. 

In  addition  to  that  particular  cause  for  English 
sympathy  with  the  rebellion  which  Mr.  Cobden  had 
so  clearly  pointed  out,  there  was  another  lying  nearer 
the  surface  and  to  which  my  attention  was  more  fre- 
quently called,  as  it  greatly  influenced  the  commer- 


316  JULIAN  M.  STUHTEVAXT 

cial  classes.  I  can  best  explain  it  by  relating  an  inci- 
dent. At  Charing  Cross.  London,  there  was  a  geo- 
graijhical  bookstore  kept  by  ]\Ir.  Wilde,  a  parishioner 
of  Kev.  Newman  Hall.  I  often  called  at  this  store 
for  American  papers,  and  almost  invariably  found  the 
proprietor  ready  for  a  chat  about  the  great  rebelliun. 
He  was  a  good  natured  but  very  j^lain  siDoken  man, 
who  never  hesitated  to  call  things  by  what  he  thought 
to  be  their  appropriate  names.  In  one  of  these  con- 
versations, he  said:  "I  will  tell  you  the  root  of  the 
whole  difficulty.  You  are  too  strong  over  there  and 
carry  yourselves  with  too  high  a  hand.  If  we  get  into 
any  difficulty  with  you.  you  must  have  it  all  your  own 
way  to  keep  the  peace.  We  think  you  would  be  more 
manageable  were  you  divided  into  two  confederacies. 
We  would  then  make  such  commercial  arrangements 
with  you  as  would  more  largely  promote  English 
prosperity."  "That,"  said  I,  ''in  western  phrase  is 
'acknowledging  the  corn." 

I  heard  similar  sentiments  again  and  again.  High- 
minded  and  religious  men,  even  abolitionists,  seemed 
willing  to  aid  in  dissolving  the  American  Union  at 
the  risk  of  establishiug  a  slaveholding  republic  over 
its  territory.  At  the  time  of  the  American  Eevolu- 
tion  England  valued  her  colonies  chiefly  because  they 
consumed  her  jDroducts  and  afforded  a  more  extended 
field  for  her  commerce.  I  was  previously  disappoint- 
ed to  find  indications  of  the  same  spirit  in  1863.  In- 
stead of  that  loving  interest  in  her  scattered  children 
as  representatives  of  English  liberty  and  English 
Protestantism  which  I  had  exi^ected  to  find  in  the 
mother  country,  I  often  found  an  alhabsorbing  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  British  trade.     When  Enuiand 


A   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  317 

acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  United  States 
she  by  no  means  relinquished  the  hope  of  retaining 
her  commercial  supremacy  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, and  that  hope,  still  lingering  in  her  heart,  explains 
her  attitude  in  1863. 

"A  friend  of  the  North,"  whom  I  met  at  a  hotel 
table  in  Callander,  Scotland,  said  in  very  soothing 
tones,  "Oh,  I  am  very  friendly  to  your  country,  but  it 
is  vastly  better  for  you  to  be  divided."  I  assured  him 
that  I  appreciated  such  friendliness  at  its  full  value, 
and,  though  some  such  friends  were  afterwards  hon- 
ored as  if  they  had  proved  our  staunch  defenders,  it 
ought  to  be  remembered  that  we  do  not  owe  it  to 
them  that  America  is  not  cursed  to=day  with  a  slave- 
holding  confederacy.  All  honor  be  given  to  the  Prince 
Consort,  and  to  every  other  true  British  friend  who 
stood  by  us  at  the  critical  moment  when  English  and 
French  intervention  seemed  imminent. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  English  and  Scotch  aboli- 
tionists, who  had  fought  the  battle  of  freedom  in  the 
British  Colonies,  opjjosed  the  Union  cause.  To  illus- 
trate: One  bright  afternoon  while  tarrying  a  few 
days  in  Edinburgh,  as  the  sun  was  hanging  lazily 
above  the  northwestern  horizon,  seeming  to  an  eye 
unfamiliar  with  such  a  spectacle  to  be  about  "to  go 
around,"  as  Tacitus  has  it,  and  not  set,  I  took  a  long 
walk  into  that  portion  of  the  city  lying  west  of  Salis- 
bury Crag,  which  I  had  not  previously  visited.  On 
my  return  about  nine  o'clock,  as  the  shadows  of  even- 
ing were  just  beginning  to  settle  down  uijon  the  city, 
I  found  myself  in  front  of  Holyrood  Palace.  Though 
I  had  visited  that  place  before,  I  felt  doubtful  as  to 
my  most  direct  route   to   my   lodging   o^^posite   Sir 


318  JULIAN  31.  STURTEVANT 

Walter  Scott's  Monument.  I  inquired  the  way  of  a 
gentleman  of  resi^ectable  appearance  walking  near  me. 
As  lie  M^as  going  in  that  direction  and  was  familiar 
with  the  region,  he  offered  to  accompany  me.  He 
said,  "You  are  a  stranger?"  "Yes,"  I  rej)lied,  "an 
American."  As  I  had  hoped,  the  conversation  imme- 
diately turned  to  the  American  conflict.  Said  my 
comrade  very  sharply,  "They  are  a  set  of  rascals  on 
both  sides."  I  instantly  stopped  and  turned  my  face 
toward  him.  He  as  quickly  halted  and  eyed  me 
sharply.  Said  I,  "  Sir,  for  you  to  speak  thus  of  my 
country  in  the  hour  of  her  trial  is  a  sin  against  God." 
He  was  silent.  We  paused  a  moment  longer  and 
then  walked  on.  He  reopened  the  conversation  in  a 
more  tender  and  gentle  spirit,  and  gave  me  an  oppor- 
tunity to  explain  the  attitude  of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the 
dominant  party  toward  slavery.  We  conversed  in 
this  strain  till  we  reached  the  bridge  which  spans  the 
deep  chasm  dividing  Princess  Street  from  the  Old 
Town,  just  at  Scott's  Monument.  Here  our  ways 
parted,  but  we  lingered  and  continued  the  conversa- 
tion for  a  long  time.  He  proved  to  be  a  prosperous 
paper  manufacturer,  and  a  life  long  abolitionist.  Be- 
fore we  parted  he  asked  me  if  I  would  present  my 
views  to  a  j)ublic  assembly,  and  upon  being  assure  I 
that  I  would  gladly  do  so,  promised  to  do  his  best  to 
gather  an  audience  and  find  some  one  to  preside.  I 
heard  afterward  of  his  earnest  efforts,  which  however 
were  unsuccessful,  perhaps  for  want  of  a  suitable 
chairman. 

The  difficulty  with  this  man  was  that  he  had  be- 
lieved, with  most  British  abolitionists,  that  there  was 
no  honest  hostility  to  slavery  in  the  Republican  par- 


A   VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  319 

ty.  Their  ideas  were  logically  deduced  from  the 
teachings  of  Mr.  Grarrison  and  his  associates.  "  Slave- 
holding,"  Mr.  Garrison  had  said,  "is  a  sin  against 
God,  and  is  therefore  an  evil  removable  only  by  im- 
mediate repentance."  It  was  not  believed  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  or  any  of  his  party  had  ever  really  rexjented 
of  the  sin  of  slavery,  therefore  they  could  by  no 
means  be  admitted  into  the  charmed  circle  of  Eng- 
lish abolitionism.  Had  these  men  known  Mr.  Lin- 
coln better  they  would  have  realized  that  he  was  no 
more  unregenerate  in  regard  to  the  sin  of  slavery 
than  was  Mr.  Garrison  himself.  If  he  had  ever  been 
in  sympathy  with  slaveholding  he  had  certainly  ex- 
perienced a  change  of  heart,  and  so  had  millions  of 
his  fellow  Republicans. 

Another  incident  will  further  illustrate  this  sub- 
ject. I  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  breakfast  at  the 
house  of  a  prominent  Indei^endent  minister,  who  was 
not  su^jposed  to  favor  the  Northern  cause,  and  was 
seated  at  the  right  of  my  hostess.  The  host,  being  at 
the  other  end  of  the  long  table  did  not  for  some  time 
address  me,  but  finally  ojaened  the  conversation  with 
the  remark:  "That  Mormonism  in  your  country  is  a 
very  horrible  system."  "Yes,"  I  replied,  "but  not 
half  so  horrible  as  the  system  of  slavery  we  are  strug- 
gling to  destroy."  "  Ah,"  continued  he  in  a  tone  that 
seemed  to  lack  sincerity,  "  if  you  were  only  opposing 
it  (IS  slavery."  Said  I,  "  If  anyone  will  only  help  de- 
stroy such  a  system  I  will  not  stop  to  ask  him  as  to 
wJiat  he  opposes  in  it."  The  conversation  termina- 
ted there.  It  was  delightful,  though  somewhat  rare, 
to  meet  those  who  were  in  thorough  sympathy  with 
the  practical  opposition  to  slavery  which  was  the  im- 


320  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

pelling  force  in  our  great  struggle.  Notable  among 
these  were  Hon.  and  Rev.  Baptist  Noel  of  London, 
James  Douglas  of  Cavers,  Scotland,  Rev.  John 
Brown  D.  D.  of  Dalkeith,  Scotland,  with  a  circle  of 
excellent  peojjle  who  surrounded  him,  Rev.  David  S. 
Russell  and  Rev.  John  Batchelder  of  Glasgow.  All 
these  and  a  few  more  that  might  be  mentioned  un- 
derstood us  ijerfectly.  They  knew  our  history,  our 
principles  and  our  aims,  and  had  no  less  confidence 
in  the  result  of  the  struggle  than  we  had  ourselves. 
But  they  were  by  no  means  popular  men  in  Britain 
at  that  time.  They  were  like  the  witnesses  of  the 
apocalypse  that  proi^hesied  in  sackcloth. 

The  few  days  passed  in  the  hosiaitable  home  of 
James  Todd,  Esq.  of  Dalkeith,  were  a  sunny  spot  in 
my  sojourn  in  Britain.  It  was  there  I  learned  to 
love  and  honor  a  Scotch  religious  home.  Had  I 
been  a  brother  or  a  father  they  could  have  done  no 
more  to  make  my  stay  delightful.  Two  sons  just  ap- 
proaching manhood  vied  with  their  i^arents  in  con- 
tributing to  my  enjoyment. 

My  visit  of  a  few  days  with  James  Douglas  of  Cav- 
ers was  exceedingly  pleasant  and  instructive.  I  had 
made  a  little  speech  at  the  dinner  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Union  of  England  and  Wales,  being  a  delegate 
to  that  body  from  the  American  Congregational  Un- 
ion. At  the  close  of  the  banquet  Mr.  Douglas  intro- 
duced himself  to  me  and  extended  an  invitation  to 
visit  him  whenever  I  should  be  in  Scotland.  On  my 
way  from  Edinburgh  to  his  house  I  found  opportu- 
nity for  a  brief  visit  at  Melrose  and  Abbotsford. 
The  memory  of  those  scenes  will  be  precious  as  long 
as  I  live. 


A    VISIT  TO  EXGLAND  321 

At  Hawick  I  was  met  by  Mr.  Douglas  with  his 
carriage  and  driven  to  his  residence  three  miles  dis- 
tant. Most  of  this  journey  was  through  his  own  es- 
tate. Only  one  who  had  spent  his  life  in  the  new 
world,  and  much  of  it  on  the  frontier,  can  appreciate 
my  impressions  as  we  drove  foi-  half  a  mile  through 
that  ancient  jjark,  and  paused  at  last  at  that  mediae- 
val castle,  for  such,  though  modenuzed  and  im- 
proved, Mr.  Douglas's  mansion  really  was.  My  re- 
ception was  most  courtly  and  yet  very  cordial.  The 
family  consisted  of  Mr.  Douglas  and  his  estimable 
wife,  and  a  young  gentleman,  her  brother.  A  so- 
journ of  four  days  afiPorded  me  a  delightful  impres- 
sion of  British  country  life.  One  of  the  days  was 
spent  in  a  drive  with  Mr.  Douglas  to  Jedburg.  My 
accomplished  host  invested  the  beautiful  scenery  of 
the  Tweed  country  with  new  interest,  through  his  fa- 
miliarity with  all  its  many  historic  and  literary  asso- 
ciations, and  enlivened  our  excursion  by  snatches 
from  Scott,  both  in  poetry  and  prose,  illustrating  the 
scenes  through  which  we  were  passing.  These  he 
recited  with  the  greatest  fluency  and  appropriateness. 
We  rambled  about  the  ancient  abbey,  and  visited  the 
quaint  dwelling  where  Mary  Queen  of  Scotts  was 
compelled  for  a  time  to  hold  her  little  court 

During  my  stay  at  the  Douglas  mansion  I  preached 
at  Hawick  on  the  Sabbath,  and  once  on  a  week  day 
delivered  a  lecture  on  the  American  conflict,  at  which 
Mr.  Douglas  himself  presided.  The  address  was  well 
received,  not  however  without  some  dissent,  frankly 
though  good-naturedly  expressed  to  me  after  the 
audience  had  retired. 

I  gladly  embraced  every  oj^portunity  while  in  Great 


322  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

Britain  to  speak  publicly  in  behalf  of  my  country. 
The  truth  is  that  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion  few 
Americans  were  granted  a  public  hearing  on  that  sub- 
ject. Henry  Ward  Beecher,  thanks  to  his  great  re- 
nown, was  heard  by  many  thousands,  and  wherever 
he  spoke  the  matchless  power  of  his  eloquence  and 
the  force  of  his  indomitable  will  swept  everything  be- 
fore him.  The  triumph  of  his  genius  has  no  parallel 
in  modern  history,  and  even  to  this  day  his  fellow 
citizens  cannot  fully  appreciate  the  greatness  of  his 
achievements  at  Liverpool  and  Exeter  Hall.  The 
storm  of  angry  questions  which  assailed  him  expressed 
the  very  heart  of  the  English  masses  at  that  time.  An 
American  who  had  met  precisely  the  same  questions 
in  drawing^-ooms,  hotels,  railway  carriages,  and  in 
crowded  streets,  can  better  than  most  men  appreciate 
Mr.  Beecher's  victory.  That  Mr.  Beecher  should 
have  been  able  in  those  times  of  excitement  to  hold 
his  position  and  control  those  great  crowds  by  the 
vigor  of  his  thought,  the  quickness,  appropriateness 
and  sharpness  of  his  replies,  and  at  last  to  overwhelm 
his  hearers  by  the  fervor  of  his  emotions  and  the  re- 
sistless tide  of  his  eloquence  till  he  stood  before  his 
assailants  an  unquestioned  conqueror,  proves  him  the 
peer  of  any  man  who  has  ever  come  to  the  rescue  of 
his  country  in  the  hour  of  her  greatest  danger. 

I  preached  in  a  few  dissenting  pulpits,  never,  how- 
ever, with  any  reference  to  politics  in  America  or  slav- 
ery in  the  abstract,  and  delivered  a  number  of  lectures 
in  different  joarts  of  the  United  Kingdom.  In  these 
lectures,  and  in  very  many  personal  conversations,  I 
sought  to  accomplish  as  much  as  possible  for  a  better 
public  sentiment  on  American  aflPairs.     No  other  part 


A   VISIT  TO  EX(;LAXD  »23 

of  my  life  has  svirj)assed  those  months  in  mental 
activity.  I  saw  much  that  was  both  interesting  and 
instructive,  but  through  it  all  I  could  never  f()r<^et  the 
conflict  that  imperiled  the  very  life  of  my  beloved 
country.  After  my  return  home  I  prepared  and  de- 
livered in  several  places  in  this  and  adjacent  states  a 
lecture  on  the  relations  of  British  opinion  to  the 
great  rebellion.  It  was  x^ublished  under  the  title  of 
■'  Three  Months  in  Great  Britain."  I  sent  a  copy  of 
it  to  Mr.  Cobden,  at  whose  suggestion  it  was  repub- 
lished in  England  by  Thomas  B.  Potter  Es(p,  who 
upon  thedeathof  Mr.  Cobden  succeeded  him  in  Parlia- 
ment. Mr.  Potter  placed  upon  the  title  page  Burn's 
couplet, 

"Oh  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  ourselves  as  ithers  see  us." 

I  bore  several  letters  of  introduction  to  Joseph 
Warne  of  Oxford,  who  was  for  many  years  the  Eng- 
lish correspondent  of  the  New  Yorli  Indei3endent, 
and  had  thus  become  widely  known  among  the  read- 
ers of  that  Journal.  An  American  consul  could  hardly 
have  exceeded  him  in  helpful  offices  to  our  countrymen. 
He  possessed  the  highest  equalities  both  of  mind  and 
heart.  He  was  a  faithful  and  intelligent  Christian,  a 
pillar  in  the  little  Bajitist  church  which  had  an  ob- 
scure and  almost  unrecognized  existence  in  Oxfcjrd. 
He  had  never  been  connected  with  the  University, 
but  by  his  own  efPorts  had  attained  a  scholarship  and 
an  independence  of  thought  that  won  respect  even  in 
university  circles.  A  man  of  modest  demeanor,  sim- 
ple habits  and  unpretending  manners,  he  had  been 
for  thirty  years,  notwithstanding  the  changes  of  ad- 
ministration,  the  postmaster  of   Oxford,   a  ijosition 


324  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

that  far  exceeds  in  imj)ortance  and  dignity  that  which 
is  conferred  by  the  same  office  in  mnch  larger  towns 
in  America.  He  not  only  had  charge  of  the  city 
office  but  also  of  the  minor  offices  in  the  adjacent  dis- 
trict, with  the  ijower  of  appointing  and  removing  his 
subordinates.  In  politics  he  was  a  quiet  and  unob- 
trusive man,  but  always  an  advanced  liberal.  In 
reference  to  the  American  conflict  he  was  as  intelli- 
gently American  in  his  sympathies  as  Mr.  Cobden 
himself.  It  confers  no  small  honor  on  the  British 
goverinnent  that  so  able  and  liberal  a  man  should  be 
able  to  hold  such  a  position  undisturbed  through  so 
many  political  changes. 

Very  soon  after  my  arrival  in  Liverpool  I  forwarded 
my  letters  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Warne  and  men- 
tioned that  I  intended  to  visit  Oxford  before  long.  I 
received  a  prompt  reply  inviting  me  to  come  at  my 
earliest  convenience.  A  letter  to  F.  Eastman  Esq., 
then  American  consul  at  Bristol,  elicited  a  similar 
response.  After  attending  the  May  Anniversaries  in 
London  I  made  arrangements  to  visit  first  Bristol  and 
then  Oxford. 

My  circle  of  acquaintances  so  widened  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Congregational  L^nion  of  England  and 
Wales  at  London  that  I  received  more  invitations  to 
visit  difPerent  parts  of  Great  Britain  than  the  duties 
connected  with  my  mission  permitted  me  to  accept. 
Allow  me  to  say  in  passing  that  the  most  i)owerful 
address  at  that  meeting  was  delivered  by  the  famous 
Dr.  Vaughn,  long  the  editor  of  the  British  Quarterly, 
and  one  of  the  rei^resentatives  of  English  Congrega- 
tionalism at  our  National  Council  at  Boston  in  1865. 
Dr.  Vaughn  was  a  man  of  unquestioned  eloquence 


A  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  325 

and  literary  ability,  but  it  was  very  apparcnit  when  I 
met  liim  in  London  that  lie  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  North  in  our  great  struggle.  Rev.  George  Smith, 
pastor  of  the  Independent  Chapel  at  Poplar,  London, 
was  Secretary  of  the  Congregational  Union.  Though 
always  civil  in  our  interviews,  he  never  failed  to  give 
unmistakable  indications  of  his  aversion  to  our  cau.se. 
He  also  was  a  delegate  to  the  Council  at  Boston.  He 
came  to  America,  but  hastened  at  once  to  Canada  and 
never  reported  at  Boston.  I  did  not  w^onder,  for  in 
the  interval  between  our  meeting  in  London  and  the 
asseml)ling  of  the  Council  at  Boston  the  Southern 
Confederacy  had  collapsed,  and  the  Union  had  been 
reestablished,  so  that  his  position  in  Boston  might 
have  proved  uncomfortable.  I  have  not  seen  him 
since  he  declared  his  belief  that  the  restoration  of  the 
Union  was  impossible,  and  when  reminded  of  North- 
ern victories,  recently  reported,  replied  that  the  truth 
of  those  rex3orts  was  very  doubtful  and  that  should 
they  subsequently  prove  true  it  would  be  all  the 
worse  for  Unionists  in  the  end. 

I  greatly  enjoyed  the  generous  hospitality  of  Mr. 
Eastman,  our  consul  at  Bristol,  and  was  charmed  by 
the  natural  scenery  of  the  quaint  old  town,  and 
esiDCcially  by  the  ancient  cathedral  whose  half  ruined 
walls  yet  show  the  marks  of  the  attentions  it  received 
from  Cromwell's  Ironsides.  I  preached  in  the  Inde- 
XDcndent  Chapel  where  Mr.  Eastman  and  his  family 
attended  worship,  and  subsequently  attended  a  small 
social  gathering  of  the  congregation.  I  was  happy 
to  find  among  them  some  lay  preachers  who  honored 
the  Lord  as  tradesmen  during  the  week,  and  rendered 
good  service  in  pulpits  on  the  Sabbath.     The  results 


326  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

accomplished  in  England  by  these  lay=preacliers 
suggest  useful  lessons  to  American  Congregation- 
alists.  Not  a  few  of  the  lights  of  English  Independ- 
ency have  found  their  way  to  the  pulpit  and  to  high 
influence  in  the  Christian  ministry  by  this  very  route. 
Such  men  often  render  invaluable  services  to  feeble 
and  pastorless  churches. 

I  accej^ted  an  invitation  to  preach  at  Abington 
Berks,  where  I  was  to  enjoy  the  hospitality  of  a  j)rom- 
inent  manufacturer.  At  dinner  soon  after  my  arrival 
I  met  a  brilliant  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
all  strangers  to  me  except  the  pastor  of  the  church  at 
which  I  was  to  preach.  I  found  that  my  fellow 
guests,  though  very  good-natured  and  courteous 
people,  were  mostly  Southern  sympathizers.  Eager 
to  make  on  such  a  circle  a  favorable  impression  for 
my  country,  I  was  watching  with  keen  interest  the 
lively  conversation  that  turned  almost  wholly  on 
American  affairs,  when  a  gentleman,  as  though  he 
had  something  of  more  than  ordinary  importance  to 
say,  remarked:  "  I  have  long  wondered  that  the  South 
does  not  abolish  slavery  for  the  sake  of  procuring 
from  England  and  France  the  acknowledgement  of 
their  independence.  I  then  laid  down  my  knife  and 
fork  and  said:  "  I  too  have  long  wondered  that  Satan 
does  not  make  up  his  mind  to  serve  God,"  A  laugh 
followed,  and  my  neighbor  after  a  minute's  pause 
said:  "  I  am  answered."  I  then  explained  that  the 
primary  object  of  the  South  was  the  perj)etuation  of 
slavery,  not  the  independence  of  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy, which  they  valued  only  as  a  necessary  condi- 
tion for  the  enslavement  of  the  negro.  I  am  quite 
sure  my  hearers  comprehended  at  that  moment  what 


A  VISIT  TO  ENGLAND  327 

they  had  not  understood  before.  A  very  good 
audience  gave  excellent  attention  to  my  sermon  in  the 
evening.  I  have  never  since  met  any  of  the  acquain- 
tances formed  on  that  da  v. 


CHAPTER  X'Xri. 

THE  CLOSING  YEARS. 
[BY  THE  EDITOR.] 

The  last  chapter  stoj^s  just  where  the  writer  and 
his  amanuensis  rested  at  the  close  of  a  certain  day, 
with  no  premonition  that  their  work  was  ended. 
Serious  illness  jorevented  its  resumption,  and  in  about 
three  weeks  all  the  hands  that  had  been  busy  with 
the  book  had  ceased  forever  from  labor. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  reader  will  wish  to 
know  something  of  the  unfinished  story.  My  father 
made  a  short  trip  to  the  Continent  after  his  tour  in 
England,  and  returned  home  early  in  September  much 
refreshed  and  greatly  delighted  with  his  journey. 
He  at  once  resumed  his  college  duties  and  his  Sab- 
bath afternoon  discourses  in  the  chapel.  During  the 
following  months  many  congregations  listened  to  a 
lecture  in  which  he  gave  his  imjDressions  of  England. 
In  the  winter  of  1864-5  he  was  occupied  in  securing 
an  endowment  for  the  Latin  i^rofessorship  in  Illinois 
College,  of  which  his  cousin,  Edward  A.  Tanner, 
afterward  his  successor  in  the  presidency,  was  the 
first  incumbent. 

His  delight  when  the  war  of  the  rebellion  at  last 
came  to  an  end  could  be  appreciated  only  by  one  who 
witnessed  the  "  sacred  joy  "  of  all  patriotic  hearts  in 
those  days.  His  emotions  in  view  of  the  assassination 
of  his  friend.  President  Lincoln,  are  expressed  in  the 

328 


J> 


^ 


>>  \ 


.i"      ■* 


THE  CLOSING  YEAtiS  329 

following  extract  from  a  letter  written  at  Illinois 
College,  Ai^ril  14,  to  his  daughter  Miss  E.  F.  Stur- 
tevant: 

"  What  a  day!  But  yesterday  we  were  rejoicing  as 
no  other  people  ever  rejoiced.  To  day  we  are  mourn- 
ing as  no  other  peojjle  ever  mourned.  This  is  no 
assassination  of  a  usurping  despot  that  waded  to  jjow- 
er  through  the  Ijlood  of  his  countrymen,  but  of  the 
truest  friend  of  liberty  that  ever  sat  in  the  seat  of  au- 
thority. What  these  villains  intend  I  know  not,  and 
care  little,  for  they  will  be  defeated.  But  what  God 
intends  concerns  us  more,  and  that  I  do  not  by  any 
means  understand.  May  God  strengthen  us  all  to 
stand  at  our  post  in  this  awful  hour!  All  business  is 
suspended,  all  places  of  business  are  deeply  draped  in 
mourning.  Thousands  are  vowing  vengeance  on  what 
remains  of  the  rebellion;  thousands  more  are  utterly 
paralyzed,  overwhelmed  with  horror  and  sorrow.  Ar- 
rangements are  made  for  a  public  meeting  of  citizens 
on  Monday  afternoon  in  view  of  this  awful  tragedy. 
It  sems  to  me,  if  anything  was  wanting  to  fill  up  the 
measure  of  our  hatred  of  the  rebellion  and  of  the 
cause  of  the  rebellion,  this  is  it.  May  the  Lord 
tranquilize  our  spirits  and  give  us  faith  in  Him  in 
this  dark  hour." 

In  June  1865  he  delivered  the  opening  sermon  at 
the  National  Council  of  Congregational  Churches  in 
Boston.  The  ojiportunity  atforded  him  great  delight 
and  the  reception  accorded  to  the  discourse,  in  which 
he  expressed  with  great  earnestness  his  view  of  the 
church,  filled  his  heart  with  gratitude  to  God.  The 
controversy  with  Bishop  Huntington  which  grew  out 
of  that  discourse  was  on  both  sides  a  fine  illustration 


330  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

of   the  candor  and  courtesy  which   ought  always  to 
characterize  theological  discussions. 

The  early  months  of  the  year  1866  were  devoted  to 
efPorts  in  behalf  of  the  "Sturtevant  Fcundation,"  an 
endowment  for  the  presidency  of  Illinois  College.  He 
regarded  this  as  one  of  the  most  important  undertak- 
ings of  his  life.  He  did  not  wish  to  make  Illinois 
College  a  Congregational  institution.  Neither  did  he 
wish  to  have  it  managed  by  a  compromise  between 
denominations.  In  a  communication  offering  this 
fund  to  the  trustees  (after  stating  that  a  ijroposition 
had  been  made  that  "action  should  be  taken  by  the 
trustees  assuring  the  iDublic  that  in  all  future  appoint- 
ments the  board  of  trustees  and  the  faculty  shall  be 
equally  divided  between  New  School  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  and  the  position  of  president 
shall  be  held  alternately  by  these  two  denominations '' ) 
he  says  among  other  things:  "Our  conception  of  the 
college,  which  in  the  early  fervor  of  our  youth  we 
united  with  others  in  endeavoring  to  found,  was  that 
it  should  be  controlled  by  sound  evangelical  men, 
who  could  be  trusted  to  administer  it  for  Christ  and 
His  Church,  and  that  in  administering  it  they  were 
bound  to  appoint  to  the  various  parts  of  instruction 
trustworthy  evangelical  men  of  the  highest  qualifica- 
tions for  their  respective  departments,  and  that  beyond 
this  they  were  not  to  be  held  resjsonsible  for  the  de- 
nominational relations  of  the  candidate.  We  acknowl- 
edge and  keenly  feel  that  the  trustees  are  bound  to 
deal  imj)artially  with  the  two  denominations.  But  by 
impartiality  we  understand  that  the  prospects  of  no 
man  for  election  to  any  place  in  the  institution  siiall 
be  damaged  or  benefitted  by  the  fact  that  he  belongs 


THE  CLOSING  YEAHS  331 

to  one  of  these  denominations  rather  than  the  other." 

When  therefore  this  fund  was  accepted  upon  those 
terms  and  his  loved  and  trusted  friend,  E.  W.  Bhitch- 
ford  of  Chicaj^o,  became  one  of  the  trustees,  lie  greatly 
rejoiced.  Nor  did  the  denominational  position  of  the 
college  afterwards  cause  him  serious  anxiety. 

In  May,  1869,  he  received  through  his  friend,  Mr. 
S.  M.  Edgell  of  St.  Louis,  an  invitation  to  participate 
in  an  excursion  on  the  new  Kansas  Pacific  railroad. 
Gen.  Custer  i^lanned  a  buffalo-hunt  for  the  benefit  of 
the  party.  My  father  with  others  was  driven  to  the 
chase  in  an  army  ambulance.  Among  the  excursion- 
ists were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Franklin  Fairbanks,  at  whose 
delightful  home  in  St.  Johnsbury,  Vermont,  father  and 
mother  spent  a  part  of  the  following  summer.  In  the 
spring  of  1870  he  was  called  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
his  most  beloved  friend,  Theron  Baldwin  D.  D. 

In  the  summer  of  1872  my  parents  were  suddenly 
summoned  from  New  England  to  the  bedside  of  their 
son,  James  Warren,  who  had  for  several  years  held  an 
honorable  i^osition  in  the  general  office  of  the  Hanni- 
bal &  St.  Joseph  R.  R.  at  Hannibal,  Mo.  His  illness 
proved  lingering  and  painful.  He  was  removed  to 
Jacksonville,  where  he  died  May  first.  1873.  Although 
very  quiet  and  retiring  my  brother  had  mental  gifts 
which  in  some  respects  greatly  resembled  those  of  his 
father  by  whom  his  death  was  severely  felt. 

During  the  latter  part  of  my  father's  life  most  of 
his  summers  were  sj)ent  in  some  cooler  climate  than 
that  of  central  Illinois,  and  during  these  vacations 
much  of  his  two  books,  "Economics"  and  the  "Keys 
of  Sect,"  were  written.  In  all  such  work  UKjther  was 
his  amanuensis  and  invaluable  assistant. 


332  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

The  following  note  from  the  great  English  states- 
man, Hon.  W.  E,  Gladstone,  is  i3reserved  for  the  com- 
pliment it  pays  to  America,  and  it  mentions  some  of 
the  work  he  was  doing  at  that  time. 

11  C  arlton=House=Terrace,  S.  W 
March  6,  '75 
Rev.  Sir:— 

I  have  to  acknowledge  your  letter  of  February  10  and  the  Re- 
view you  so  kindly  sent  me.  I  shall  examine  with  great  interest 
your  article  on  Church  and  State. 

It  has  been  given  to  America  to  solve  many  problems;  but 
there  are  others  in  respect  to  which  she  will  probably  have  to  re- 
main content  with  half=solutions.  It  may  be  that  one  of  these 
is  that  deep  subject  of  the  relations  between  Church  and  State 
which  it  is  so  difficult  entirely  to  sever  from  the  relations  between 
the  State  and  Education. 

I  remain  Rev.  Sir, 

Your  faithful  servant, 

W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 
Rev.  Dr.  Sturtevant. 

During  the  summer  of  1875  my  parents,  with  one 
of  my  sisters,  visited  me  in  Denver,  Colorado.  To 
my  surjjrise  they  insisted  upon  a  camping  tour  in 
the  mountains,  sleeping  upon  the  ground  and  living 
entirely  in  the  open  air  for  more  than  a  week.  This 
romantic  life  they  greatly  enjoyed,  although  mother 
sometimes  acknowledged  on  rising  in  the  morning 
that  "  the  Rocky  mountains  were  hard."  Father's 
outburst  of  delight  when  he  saw  from  Denver  the 
mountains  which  had  been  covered  with  snow  during 
the  night  was  like  that  of  a  boy,  and  his  enthusiasm 
was  yet  more  unbounded  when  we  came  suddenly 
upon  the  panorama  of  snowy  peaks  as  seen  from  Belle- 
vue.  In  spite  of  the  recent  breaking  of  his  ankle 
he  walked  many  miles  up  the  mountain  sides.     One 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  333 

Saturday  night  we  camped  in  a  beautiful  l)ut  very 
lonely  spot  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains.  There  we 
slept  well,  though  I  had  been  frightened  from  my 
trout  fishing  that  evening  within  a  (quarter  of  a  mile 
of  our  tent  by  the  growling  of  mountain  lions  among 
the  rocks  behind  me.  Father  often  afterwards  spoke 
of  that  Sabbath  as  among  the  brightest  in  his  life. 
In  the  afternoon  we  sat  in  the  door  of  our  tent  and 
sang,  "  Oft  in  the  Stilly  Night,"  recited  from  the  one 
hundred  and  twenty  fifth  Psalm,  "  They  that  trust  in 
the  Lord  shall  be  as  mount  Zion,  which  cannot  be 
removed,  but  abideth  forever.  As  the  mountains  are 
round  al)out  Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about 
his  people  from  henceforth  even  forever,"  and  then 
sang  again,  one  old  hymn  after  another. 

In  1876  father  resigned  the  presidency,  though  he 
continued  to  occupy  the  chair  of  mental  and  moral 
philosophy.  It  was  very  hard  for  anyone  so  intense 
and  active  as  he,  and  so  devoted  to  what  he  had 
undertaken,  to  relinquish  any  part  of  his  life  work; 
yet  he  felt  the  necessity  of  relief  from  executive  re- 
sponsibility. He  spent  the  summers  of  1877  and  '78 
in  New  Haven,  going  there  in  April  and  working 
diligently  upon  the  "  Keys  of  Sect."  He  never  lost 
his  early  affection  for  Yale,  and  highly  esteemed 
every  opportunity  of  friendly  intercourse  with  its 
president  and  professors.  His  eastern  relatives  and 
friends  always  gave  him  a  cordial  welcome,  and  his 
love  for  them  was  unabated  to  the  end.  In  1879  he 
remained  west  and  delivered  the  semi=centennial 
address  at  Illinois  College.  In  December  1883  he 
delivered  a  historical  discourse  at  the  semi  centennial 
of  the  Congregational  church  in  Jacksonville. 


334  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

In  February  1884  lie  was  brought  very  near  to 
death.  To  show  how  he  retained  his  mental  vigor  I 
may  mention  that  watching  beside  him  when  his  ex- 
treme weakness  and  emaciation  caused  me  to  fear 
that  he  would  pass  away  before  the  dawn  of  the 
morning,  I  found  it  impossible  to  restrain  him  from 
discussing  the  most  profound  and  exciting  public 
questions.  Only  a  few  days  later  he  dictated  from 
his  pillow  an  article  on  "  The  Private  Ownership  of 
Land,"  which  was  isublished  in  the  Princeton  Review 
of  March  1884. 

During  the  succeeding  summer  he  visited  at  seve- 
ral i^laces  in  the  East,  especially  with  Mrs.  Baldwin 
at  Charlotte,  Vermont.  On  the  thirteenth  of  August 
he  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  upon  a  rock  at  Greenwich, 
Connecticut,  and  fractured  his  hip  so  severely  that  his 
friends,  and  among  them  some  exjoerienced  surgeons, 
believed  that  he  would  never  walk  again.  Through 
a  kind  providence  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  Dr. 
L.  P.  Jones,  whose  skilful  and  very  tender  care 
enabled  him  to  return  home  with  comparative  com- 
fort before  the  end  of  October.  A  few  weeks  later 
he  was  able  to  walk  with  the  assistance  of  a  cane. 

In  1885  he  was  released  from  all  duty  in  connec- 
tion with  Illinois  College.  The  26th  of  July  in  that 
year  was  the  eightieth  anniversary  of  his  birth.  It 
was  arranged  by  the  members  of  the  family  that  the 
event  should  be  celebrated  by  inviting  a  great  num- 
ber of  his  old  friends  to  surprise  him  with  letters  of 
congratulation.  Nearly  all  to  whom  the  suggestion 
was  communicated  promptly  responded  with  the 
most  gratifying  expressions  of  esteem-  and  affection. 
Among  them  were  communications  from  his  former 


THE  CLOSING   YEARS  335 

colleagues  in  the  work  of  instruction,  his  brothers  in 
the  ministry,  his  fellow  pioneers,  his  early  and  his 
later  pupils  and  his  best4)eloved  relatives,  and  even  a 
telegram  from  Mr.  E.  W.  Blatchford  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea.  His  neighbors  would  not  allow  the 
day  to  pass  without  coming  to  express  in  person 
their  esteem  for  one  who  had  lived  in  Jacksonville 
nearly  fifty  six  years.  Prof.  Rufus  C.  Crampton 
was  their  sj)okesman,  and  since  among  all  those  men 
of  marked  intellectual  and  spiritual  gifts  with  whom 
father  had  the  honor  to  be  associated  no  one  was 
more  worthy  to  sj)eak  of  him  here,  I  embody  his 
remarks,  as  follows: 

"To  be  spokesman  for  a  company  like  this,  on  this  occasion, 
would  be  a  pleasing  duty  to  one  conscious  of  ability  to  give  fit 
expression  to  the  thoughts  and  memories  of  the  hour.  We  come 
to  offer  you,  our  dearly  beloved  friend,  what  we  have  little  right 
to  expect  our  friends  will  offer  us,  earnest  and  heartfelt  congrat- 
ulations upon  this  anniversary  which  marks  the  attainment  of 
fourscore  years. 

Although,  as  we  measure  time,  your  life  has  spanned  two  gen- 
erations, yet  this  generation  most  properly  claims  you  as  its 
own.  For  physically  your  later  years  have  been  well=nigh  as 
vigorous  as  the  earlier.  Your  falls  have  not  been  falls  from 
grace,  but  only  instances  in  which  you  were  subject  to  the  laws 
of  gravitation  and  inertia. 

Is  it  not  in  these  late  years  that  you  have  seen  the  unfolding 
of  the  plans  and  hopes  of  early  manhood?  You  realize  now 
more  fully  than  when  it  was  made,the  meaning  of  that  consecra- 
tion to  a  grand  life  work  of  nearly  sixty  years  ago.  Looking 
back  but  little  more  than  half  that  interval  of  time,  I  well  re- 
member your  visit  to  my  native  village  on  the  mountain  side  in 
New  England,  your  enthusiasm  for  the  work  of  Christian  educa- 
tion at  the  West.  The  contagion  of  this  enthusiasm  led  me  to 
become  one  of  the  humblest  of  your  co  laborers.  It  is  no  small 
•work  in  which  you  have  borne  the  chiefest  part,  to  lay  so  broad- 


336  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

ly  and  well  the  foundations  of  Illinois  College.  Even  at  present 
we  feebly  appreciate  its  importance. 

Fifty  graduating  classes  have  felt  your  influence,  quickening 
thought,  elevating  character,  widening  mental  and  moral  vision, 
giving  new  views  of  duty  and  privilege  in  a  life  of  consecration 
to  Christ,  as  they  have  gone  out  to  be  leaders  of  society,  Church 
and  State  in  this  great  valley  of  the  "West.  Future  generations 
will  rise  up  and  call  you  blessed,  as  tlie  man  to  whom  the  cause 
of  Christian  culture  is  more  indebted  than  to  any  other  in  con- 
nection with  Illinois  College,  as  its  name  shall  be  greater  and  its 
impress  stronger  in  the  midst  of  a  mighty  people. 

In  my  own  experience  and  contact  with  men  I  have  had  occa- 
sion to  know  that,  with  very  many,  the  college  was  favorably 
known  through  its  president,  rather  than  the  president  through 
the  college.  Your  well  known  preeminence  and  success  in  the 
presidency  was  one  of  the  reasons  which  made  it  difficult  for 
several  years  to  find  a  successor.  For  twenty=two  years  I  was 
a  member  of  the  faculty  while  you  were  our  presiding  officer. 
Though  during  those  early  years  of  my  professorship  there  must 
have  been  many  shortcomings  and  mistakes  more  evident  to 
your  experienced  eye  than  even  to  my  own,  I  never  received 
from  you  any  word  that  left  a  sting,  only  words  and  acts  of  com- 
fort and  encouragement.  "While  in  the  faculty  always  facile 
2)rincej)s,  your  only  desire  was  to  be  what  your  position  required 
that  you  should  he  jJrimiis  inter  2JO res.  For  all  the  stimulus  of  a 
noble  example,  the  strengthening  of  words  of  wisdom  and  cheer 
that  I  have  received  in  the  experience  of  our  personal  relation- 
ship, I  most  sincerely  thank  you,  and  I  am  sure  that  in  this  I 
shall  be  heartily  joined  by  all  who  have  sustained  similar  rela- 
tions. 

Yours  has  also  been  a  leading  part  in  the  discussion  of  the 
political,  economic,  social  and  moral  questions  of  the  last  forty 
years.  It  is  great  praise  to  say  of  a  man  that  he  always,  even  to 
his  latest  years,  lives  in  advance  of  the  age;  that  his  ideas  and 
principles  are  the  germs  of  thought  and  progress  for  others,  and 
that  only  those  who  come  after  him  will  fully  realize  his  ideals. 

For  example,  the  utterance  of  twenty  years  ago  before  a  na- 
tional council,  was  it  not  the  crisis  of  a  new  departure,  a  quiet 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  337 

but  grand  movement  for  completer  religious  liberty,  for  inde- 
pendence from  sectarian  dictation  and  control?  Have  we  not 
already  seen  great  changes,  so  that  there  is  no  denomination  of 
the  Protestant  churches  that  does  not  at  least  profess  Christian 
union  and  unsectariau  motive?  There  was  demanded  on  that 
memorable  occasion  the  voice  of  one  known  to  be  in  advance  of 
the  thought  of  the  time,  even  in  the  most  liberal  body  of 
churches.  The  leaven  of  truth  is  working  and  it  will  leaven  the 
whole  lump.  Slowly  jierhaps,  but  surely,  the  churches  of  Chris- 
tendom will  come  to  the  ideal  of  a  universal,  complete  brother- 
hood in  Christ.     If  it  could  only  be  in  your  day! 

I  am  aware  that  it  often  requires  no  little  courage  to  tell  a 
man,  to  his  face,  before  his  friends,  the  plain  truth  about  him- 
self. But  there  are  times  when  a  part  of  the  truth  must  be  told 
at  whatever  sacrifice,  at  least  enough  to  suggest  what  the  whole 
would  be  if  it  were  told. 

And  so  your  life  flows  on  in  this  community  where  you  are 
best  known  as  one  whose  heart  beats  in  ready  sympathy  with 
every  true  interest  of  humanity,  whose  intellect  is  clear  and 
strong  to  advocate  and  defend  all  truth,  whose  influence  is  pow- 
erful to  lead  our  social,  civil  and  religious  activities  in  the  di- 
rection of  a  freer  life  and  a  larger  liberty. 

And  we,  a  few  of  your  many  friends  and  neighbors,  with  love 
sincere,  with  respect  not  unmixed  with  reverence,  assemble  to 
offer  our  greeting  in  this  place  hallowed  and  endeared  by  all  the 
blessed  memories  and  associations  of  a  Christian  home;  by  the 
clustering  lives  and  affections  of  the  devoted  wife  who  appreci- 
ates the  true  sphere  of  woman  and  nobly  fills  it,  and  of  children 
and  grand  children  whose  younger  lives  have  become  a  part  of 
your  own,  and  who  in  return  receive  into  their  hearts  and  minds 
a  pure  and  holy  influence  hallowed  and  endeared  even  by  be- 
reavement, and  the  tender  recollections  of  those  who  have  gone 
before;  we  meet  here  to  thank  you  for  what  we  as  individuals 
have  received,  for  what  society  and  Christianity  have  gained,  to 
rejoice  together  in  a  life  'which  reminds  us,  we  can  make  our 
lives  sublime.' 

Our  prayer  is  that  you  may  long  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
your  labors,  and  the  pleasure  of  a  Christian  home,  the  best  fore- 


338  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

taste  of  the  bright  home  beyond  in  the  mansions  prepared  for  all 
the  children  of  our  Heavenly  Father.  '  Et  serus  in  coeluni  re 
deas!'  " 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  written  soon  after 
these  events  to  Mrs.  Theron  Baldwin: — 

My  dear  Mrs.  Baldwin: — 

The  contract  into  which  I  entered  with  my 
brethren  of  the  "Illinois  Association"  in  February,  1829  was 
finally  terminated  on  the  1st.  of  June,  1885,  having  controlled 
the  greater  part  of  the  activity  of  my  life  through  more  than 
fifty=six  years.  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  results  of  my  life 
must  now  be  regarded  as  chiefly  in  the  past.  How  small  they 
now  seem  to  me  I  cannot  express  to  you  or  to  anyone;  but 
whether  they  be  really  great  or  small  they  have  greatly  depend- 
ed on  the  cooperation  of  your  dear,  departed  husband.  How 
greatly  I  have  missed  him  and  how  much  I  have  moui'ned  his 
loss  in  the  fifteen  years  since  he  left  us  I  cannot  express.  How 
much  I  have  lacked  his  wisdom  in  counsel,  his  cooperation  in 
times  of  difficulty  and  conflict,  and  his  sympathy  in  trials,  joys 
and  sorrows!  It  is  a  great  comfort  to  me  to  know  that  our 
friendship  was  a  perfectly  unselfish  one,  and  that  for  that  reason 
it  was  never  interrupted  by  any  jealousies,  suspicions  or  aliena- 
tions. I  believe  we  never  for  a  moment  distrusted  each  other; 
that  we  did  truly  rejoice  in  each  other's  joy  and  bear  each  oth- 
er's trials  and  sufferings. 

Considering  that  I  have  passed  the  eightieth  annual  milestone 
I  am  vigorous  both  in  mind  and  body.  Since  the  fracture  of  my 
thigh  I  have  not  attempted  any  long  feats  of  walking,  yet  for 
short  distances  my  lameness  is  but  trifling.  I  still  intend  to  try 
to  do  some  work  for  the  Master.  The  themes  to  which  I  have 
devoted  my  attention  for  so  many  years,  religious,  ecclesiastical 
and  social,  were  never  more  interesting  to  me  than  to=day.  I 
am  compelled  to  think  about  them  as  ever,  whether  I  speak  or 
publish  upon  them  or  not.  Most  profoundly  do  I  feel  in  respect 
to  them  all,  that  "there  remaineth  much  land  to  be  possessed." 
Especially  I  mourn  that  our  Congregationalism  is  still  to  a  very 
great  extent  unconscious  of  its  strength  and  knows  not  the 
function  which  God  hath  raised  it  up  to  perform.     It  tries  me 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  88i) 

that  many  consider  it  only  almost  as  good  as  other  sects,  es- 
pecially as  Presbyterianism,  instead  of  recognizing  it  as  God's 
own  instrumentality  for  breaking  all  the  bands  of  sect  and  fus- 
ing the  whole  Christian  brotherhood  into  that  spiritual  kingdom 
which  the  Son  of  Man  came  to  establih-h.  In  vifcw  of  this  state 
of  facts  my  soul  is  sometimes  exceedingly  sorrowful  and  ready 
to  cry  out,  "How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long!"  I  am  not  discour- 
aged. Sect  is  too  mean  and  hateful  a  thing  to  last  forever  under 
the  government  of  God.  The  kingdom  of  God  has  the  promise 
of  universal  dominion. 

Accept,  my  dear  sister,  the  assurance  of  my  affectionate  sym- 
pathy with  you  in  all  your  trials  and  sorrows,  and  in  all  your 
hopes  and  joys.     I  am  sure  God  will  be  with  you  to  the  end. 

Yours  very  affectionately, 

J.  M.  Stuktevant. 

As  soon  as  my  parents  were  a  little  rested  after  so 
many  exciting  experiences,  they  came  to  my  home  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  The  visit  which  followed  seems  like 
a  dream;  too  full  of  unalloyed  felicity  for  this  earth. 
By  common  consent  we  avoided  all  disagreeable  top- 
ics, all  painful  memories.  I  shall  never  forget  those 
long  conversations,  especially  my  father's  stories  of 
the  past,  beautiful  in  the  golden  haze  of  sunset.  We 
talked  of  our  beloved  country  and  of  that  "  mother  of 
us  all,"  yet  dearer  to  his  heart,  the  Church  of  God. 
His  undiminished  interest  in  all  living  questions,  and 
his  invincible  hopefulness  as  to  the  issue  of  all  prob- 
lems, were  to  me  a  promise  of  immortality.  One  Mon- 
day I  was  able  to  gather  in  my  study  and  around  my 
table  more  than  twenty  Congregational  ministers  that 
they  might  hear  him  tell  how  God  led  him  out  of  the 
gloom  and  discouragement  of  sectarian  strife  into  the 
clear  preception  of  that  simple  unsectarian  church 
which  he  afterwards  recognized  in  the  Congregation- 


340  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

alism  of  our  fathers.  It  was  partly  due  to  the  interest 
exiDressed  on  that  occasion  that  he  finally  promised  to 
undertake  this  biography. 

We  went  to  Tallmadge,  where  he  had  such  a  wel- 
come from  old  friends  as  warmed  his  heart.  We  vis- 
ited the  now  deserted  site  of  the  first  cabin  and  saw 
the  chestnut  rails  "his  feeble  strokes"  had  helped  to 
split  in  1816.  We  followed  the  course  of  an  old  road 
where  his  parents  were  once  lost.  We  worshipped  in 
the  ancient  church,  and  were  even  shown  the  wooden 
vessel  which  had  held  the  gallon  of  whiskey  given  as 
a  prize  for  the  first  stick  of  timber  brought  to  the  spot 
for  its  construction.  We  stood  by  the  graves  of  his 
parents  while  he  gave  orders  for  a  simple  headstone 
to  mark  the  spot.  Every  memory  seemed  beautiful 
and  precious.  He  was  living  his  life  over  again,  and 
every  scene  was  touched  with  the  glory  of  gratitude 
and  the  brightness  of  hope. 

During  his  visit  in  Cleveland  he  preached  several 
times  with  freshness  and  force.  The  following  out- 
line of  his  last  discourse,  transcribed  just  as  he  pre- 
pared it  for  use,  will  give  some  idea  of  his  method  of 
preparation  for  the  pulpit: 

Luke  18:22  and  19:8,  9. 

Seeming  conflict  between  the  words  of  Christ  in  these  two 
cases. 

Show  that  this  conflict  is  seeming,  not  real.  Like  a  true  phy- 
sician our  Lord  treats  each  individual  case  according  to  its  indi- 
cations. 

One  principle  is  recognized  and  insisted  on  in  both  cases. 
That  principle  is  the  necessity  of  entire  consecration  and  it  is 
equally  insisted  on  in  both  cases. 

I.     The  case  of  the  ruler. 

The  principle  of  the  necessity  of  total  abstinence  is  enforced 
in  the  young  ruler. 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  841 

This  principle  is  not  only  applicable  to  the  case  in  the  text  but 
to  a  multitude  of  others.  There  is  but  one  way  to  overcome  an 
inordinate  love  of  money,  and  that  is  to  give  freely  of  our  pos- 
sessions to  promote  the  welfare  of  our  fellowmen.  I  once  heard 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  say  to  his  congregation,  etc. 

My  brethren,  giving  to  the  Lord  of  our  substance  is  a  neces- 
sary part  of  worship. 

II.  The  rule  of  entire  consecration  to  the  Lord  is  not  in  the 
least  relaxed  in  the  case  of  Zacchaeus.  He  had  shown  by  his 
voluntary  profession  that  he  could  be  trusted  with  the  adminis- 
tration and  use  of  wealth. 

There  is  need  of  accumulated  wealth,  and  the  Lord  has  need  of 
a  style  of  Christian  character  that  can  be  entrusted  with  it.  Our 
Lord  meant  all  that  he  said  in  the  parable  of  merchantman  seek- 
ing goodly  pearls.     What  is  meant  by  entire  consecration. 

III.  The  Lord  requires  this  entire  consecration  not  merely 
from  professing  Christians  but  from  every  man  that  lives. 
"The  earth  is  the  Lord's  "  etc. 

IV.  The  Lord  will  punish  the  withholding  of  this  rightful 
claim  in  the  present  life. 

In  our  own  hearts.     The  family.     In  our  posterity. 
Finally.     The  blessedness  which  will  follow  now  and  forever 
from  this  consecration. 

Late  in  September  my  parents  returned  to  Jack- 
sonville and  father  began  at  once  the  first  draft  of 
this  book.  Both  he  and  mother  seemed  stronger  than 
usual.  January  4,  1886,  he  dictated  the  last  para- 
graj^h  as  it  is  printed.  The  book  was  not  finished. 
But  his  training  in  God's  earthly  school  was  almost 
completed.  It  remained  only  to  watch  beside  two 
dying  beds,  and  stand,  strong  in  faith  but  fast  fail- 
ing in  body,  by  the  graves  of  two  of  his  loved  ones. 
On  Thursday,  the  7th,  Mr.  Palmer  returned  very  ill 
from  Chicago.  The  two  homes  were  in  the  same 
yard,  and  in  times  of  trouble  were  one  household. 
The  weather  was  intensly  cold.     On  returning  from 


342  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

a  visit  to  Mr.  Palmer  on  the  afternoon  of  January 
13tli  mother  was  seized  with  a  congestive  chill.  On 
Friday  she  was  much  worse,  and  from  that  time  she 
sank  rapidly  until  the  end.  Father  struggled  against 
despair,  sometimes  exclaiming,  "O  my  dear  wife,  you 
are  better!  I  know  you  are  better!"  Though  in  great 
distress  and  often  delirious,  mother  did  not  forget 
others.  More  than  once  she  made  an  effort  to  plan 
what  would  be  for  the  comfort  of  the  family  after  she 
was  gone.  She  charged  her  daughters  to  take  care  of 
their  father,  little  thinking  how  brief  their  opportu- 
nity would  be.  When  told  that  she  had  probably 
only  a  little  while  to  live  and  asked  if  she  was  afraid 
to  die,  she  answered:  "No,  though  I  should  like  to 
live  ten  years  longer  if  it  were  the  will  of  God." 
Then  she  began  to  repeat  that  inspired  liturgy  of  the 
dying,  the  twenty^hird  Psalm,  and  evidently  joined 
in  father's  prayer  which  followed,  even  mingling  her 
own  sw^eet  voice  with  theirs  when  her  daughters 
sang,  "  How  gentle  God's  commands." 

All  through  Saturday  night  she  was  painfully 

"  Crossing  over, 
Waters  all  dark  and  wide." 

When  the  sun  dawned  on  Sabbath  morning  she 
had  found 

"  Peace  on  the  other  side." 

No  one  should  attempt  my  father's  biography  w^ith- 
out  saying  something  of  her  who  walked  by  his  side 
for  so  many  years.  Even  at  the  risk  of  seeming  too 
partial  to  her  who  was  to  me  all  that  a  mother  could 
be,  I  shall  venture  to  speak  of  her  character.  Her 
sincerity,  good  judgment  and  self-control  explained 
her  strong  influence  in  the  home.     Every  child  whom 


THE  CLOSISG  YEARS  348 

she  reared  remembered  single,  quiet  acts,  or  brief 
sayings  of  hers,  which  left  a  life  long  impression. 
Once  a  boy  came  into  her  presence  wiping  the  milk 
and  dirt  from  his  clothing  and  the  hot  angry  tears 
from  his  cheeks,  as  he  exclaimed:  "I  can't  milk  that 
kicking  cow,  and  I  won't."'  None  of  us  knew  that 
mother  could  milk.  We  would  have  been  ashamed 
to  see  her  attempt  it.  Most  women  would  have  had 
a  conflict  with  that  boy.  Mother  flushed  for  a  mo- 
ment, and  then  without  the  least  appearance  of  haste 
or  emotion  took  the  pail  and  went  to  the  barn,  from 
which  she  presently  returned  with  the  milk,  and 
without  one  word  oi  comment.  The  boy  has  never 
forgotten  the  mortification  of  that  hour,  or  the  lesson 
it  taught  him.  Once  a  wild  college  lad  appealed  to 
her  for  help  in  dressing  a  slight  wound,  the  origin  of 
which  he  dared  not  confess.  He  muttered  some- 
thing, I  blush  to  say,  about  falling  into  a  brush  heap 
in  the  forest.  Many  women  would  have  asked  ques- 
tions, or  told  father.  Mother  tenderly  dressed  the 
wound,  muttering  only  three  words.  I  can  hear 
them  yet:  "  Singular  brush  heap!" 

Her  devotion  to  her  household  left  no  room  for 
thoughts  of  self.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  I  fear  that 
her  seeming  indifference  to  her  own  comfort  some- 
times tempted  us  to  forget  it  too.  Father  was  so  de- 
pendent upon  her  cheerful  i^resence  and  tender  care 
that  when  they  were  withdrawn  he  ceased  to  live. 
She  had  five  children  of  her  own  beside  three  of  us, 
left  by  her  older  sister,  and  entertained  a  great  deal 
of  company.  Much  of  the  time  without  hired  help, 
she  managed  to  have  us  all  fed  and  clothed  upon  a 
very  limited  income  and  without  debt.     Yet  she  was 


Ui  Julian  m.  stuetevant 

able  to  teach  the  children  Latin  and  Mathematics 
and  act  frequently  as  father's  amanuensis,  and  with 
it  all  she  brightened  our  young  lives  with  many  of 
those  inexpensive  pleasures,  which  add  so  much  to 
the  memories  of  childhood.  During  all  those  years 
of  ceaseless  cares  and  worries  not  one  of  her  children 
remembers  a  moment  when  her  speech  or  action  over- 
leajjed  the  self-control  which  conscience  and  faith 
enjoined. 

Her  selfcontrol  came  not  so  much  from  natural 
placidity  as  from  Christian  princixDie  which  had  been 
strengthened  by  her  habit  of  choosing  each  morning 
a  text  from  the  Bible  which  should  be  her  guide  and 
insi^iration  for  the  day.  Once  a  thoughtless  boy  sat 
down  with  unbrushed  clothing  upon  a  delicate  white 
wrap  which  had  been  laid  for  a  moment  across 
a  chair.  An  expression  of  distress  and  vexation 
passed  over  her  face,  and  then  she  said  in  very  gentle 
tones:  "  My  son,  how  could  you  do  that?  "  An  older 
son,  at  home  on  a  visit,  began  to  laugh,  and  when  she 
asked  the  reason  of  his  merriment  replied:  "I  thought 
you  were  going  to  spoil  my  boast  that  mother  never 
said  an  angry  word."  The  tears,  which  for  a  mo- 
ment she  could  not  restrain,  showed  that  her  compo- 
sure was  not  the  result  of  natural  indifPerence.  I 
cannot  say  less  of  one  to  whom  M^e  owe  so  much. 

The  most  terrible  wounds  do  not  always  bleed  ex- 
ternally and  so  my  poor  father  showed  the  severity  of 
the  shock  he  had  experienced,  at  first  only  by  his  ef- 
forts to  resist  its  effects.  When  I  reached  home  a 
few  hours  after  mother  was  gone  I  was  astonished  at 
his  apj)arent  cheerfulness,  and  I  could  not  under- 
stand it  until  I  noticed  that  he  gently  changed  the 


THE  CLOSING   YEARS  845 

subject  whenever  we  were  iiii-linecl  to  dwell  upon  his 
loss.  Previous  to  the  funeral,  which  took  pluc-e  in 
the  home  and  was  conducted  ])y  mother's  beloved 
pastor,  Rev.  Henry  E.  Butler,  the  family  ijjathered  in 
the  south  room  to  look  once  more  upon  the  face  so 
dear  to  our  hearts.  Father  stood  erect  and  calm  be- 
side the  coffin,  and  asked  the  oldest  son  to  offer 
a  brief  prayer.  Then  he  said,  "This  dear  hand  has 
written  almost  all  that  I  have  published  about  the 
Church,"  and  in  a  few  words  commended  the  same 
cause  to  his  children.  This  most  characteristic  ut- 
terance, though  it  veiled  feelings  he  could  not  trust 
himself  to  express,  was  an  illustration  of  the  i^lace 
which  the  dear  Church  of  God  ever  held  in  his 
thoughts.  The  promise,  "  They  shall  prosper  that 
love  thee,"  was  surely  for  him.  It  was  soon  ai^i^ar- 
ent  that  he  was  making  a  brave  fight  to  live,  though 
he  felt  that  "  without  her  it  was  impossible,"  and  ac- 
knowledged that  "  to  live  was  to  suffer." 

He  began  to  work  somewhat  regularly,  doing  a 
little  on  the  revision  of  his  book,  but  generally  try- 
ing to  divert  his  mind  with  other  writing.  In  the 
evenings  he  greeted  very  cheerfully  the  friends  who 
called,  and  listened  with  pleasure  and  sometimes 
with  amusement  to  readings  from  the  "Life  of  Sam- 
uel Johnson."  He  conducted  family  prayers  as 
usual,  and  on  January  28th,  the  day  of  prayer  for 
colleges,  iDresided  at  a  public  meeting.  Of  course  he 
was  often  in  the  sick  chamber  next  door,  and  on  the 
first  of  February  did  what  he  could  to  comfort  and 
uphold  his  beloved  eldest  daughter  when  her  hus- 
band passed  to  his  rest.  Tliis  second  shock  affected 
him  greatly.      Sunday,    February  7th,  was   a    cold, 


346  JULIAN  M.  STURTEVANT 

clear  day.  He  attended  church,  and  assisted  Mr. 
Butler  at  the  communion  table.  Many  have  men- 
tioned his  impressive  appearance  on  that  occasion. 
He  seemed  so  very  frail  and  yet  so  bright  and  full  of 
courage  that  a  stranger  said,  "  It  seemed  like  listen- 
ing to  a  disembodied  spirit."  The  drift  of  his  re- 
marks was  that  the  aim  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  Chris- 
tianity was  to  lift  men  up  and  this  we  must  do  by 
holding  up  Christ.     Nothing  else  is  worth  living  for. 

The  next  day  he  looked  a  little  more  feeble.  He 
had  taken  a  slight  cold,  which  he  felt  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end.  His  physician  saw  nothing  alarm- 
ing in  the  case,  at  least  nothing  but  his  depression  of 
spirit.  The  next  day  he  had  evidently  failed,  but  the 
doctor  could  find  no  evidence  of  disease.  On  Wed- 
nesday it  was  plain  that  he  could  not  last  long. 
That  evening  those  of  the  family  who  were  in  the 
house  gathered  around  his  bed;  the  twenty=third 
Psalm  was  read,  and  his  youngest  son  offered  prayer 
to  Him  who  alone  can  uphold  us  in  such  an 
hour.  Most  of  the  night  he  was  wakeful.  Over 
and  over  again  he  said  as  if  leaning  on  the 
words,  "  Thy  rod  and  thy  staff,"  and  once  he  said, 
"  O  my  son,  you  have  no  idea  of  the  j)rostration  of 
dying."  As  the  day  began  to  dawn  a  sudden  change 
passed  over  his  face,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  was 
gone.  It  seems  wonderful  that  a  form  so  slight  and 
a  constitution  seemingly  so  delicate  could  have  en- 
dured eighty  years  of  almost  constant  activity. 

Among  the  multitude  who  gathered  at  his  funeral 
there  were  few,  if  any,  who  were  in  Jacksonville  as 
early  as  1829.  Very  few  were  left  who  could  tell  the 
changes  of  that  region  in  those  fifty-six  years.     The 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  347 

great  trees  ou  the  college  campus,  many  of  Iheiu 
jjlanted  by  his  hands  or  inuler  his  direction,  and 
ah-eady  rivaling  iu  size  the  mouarchs  of  the  original 
forest  which  occupied  a  part  of  the  site,  were  fit  types 
of  the  institutions  which  he  had  seen  jjlanted  and 
reared  in  the  state  of  his  adoption. 

From  the  old  home  his  body  was  reverently  borne  to 
the  Congregational  church  where  the  principal  address 
was  delivered  by  the  eloquent  and  beloved  Dr.  Tru- 
man M.  Post,  himself  so  soon  to  pass  away.  Dr.  Post 
was  one  of  the  early  professors  of  Illinois  College,  an 
honored  pastor  of  the  church,  and  father's  lifedong 
friend.  Representatives  of  the  churches,  the  college 
and  the  community  also  made  tender  and  appropri- 
ate remarks,  and  then  father's  remains  were  laid  to 
rest  in  the  beautiful  Diamond  Grove  Cemetery  with 
those  of  his  kindred  and  his  many  friends  of  earlier 
years. 

Of  my  father's  f)ublic  life  and  influence  it  is  not 
for  me  to  write.  To  his  own  household  he  seemed 
remarkable  for  his  earnestness.  To  me,  in  my  child- 
hood, that  trait  of  his  character  seemed  positively 
awful.  I  never  knew  anyone  to  whom  duty  seemed 
so  sacred  or  the  service  of  God  so  glorious  and  joyful 
a  reality.  He  realized  what  so  many  of  us  try  to 
feel  that  he  and  all  that  he  had  belonged  to  God.  If 
he  ever  refused  to  give  to  a  good  cause  it  was  with  evi- 
dent pain  and  oidy  because  some  other  duty  seemed  to 
forbid.  In  the  midst  of  his  great  struggle  to  maintain 
the  college,  when  his  household  had  known  for  many 
months  the  real  meaning  of  jjoverty,  he  received 
what  seemed  to  us  a  large  sum  for  some  extra  service 
as  a  preacher,  and  came  to  tell  us,  his  face  radiant 


848  JULIA  N  M.  STVRTEVANT 

with  delight,  while  visions  of  needed  supplies  rose 
before  us  until  he  added,  as  if  giving  the  best  news 
of  all,  "  and  that  will  ijay  for  those  repairs  on  the 
College  Chapel."  The  lesson  was  severe  but  salutary 
for  us. 

His  honesty  included  not  only  uprightness  in 
business,  but  absolute  fairness  alike  to  friend  and 
foe.  A  debt  temporarily  incurred  weighed  on  him 
almost  like  a  disgrace.  Once,  many  years  ago,  I 
noticed  that  he  was  greatly  troubled  about  a  horse  he 
had  recently  purchased,  and  I  tried  to  comfort  him 
by  the  assurance  that  the  animal  seemed  to  me  an 
excellent  one  and  quite  worth  the  price  he  had  paid 
"  My  son,"  said  he,  "  that  is  not  what  troubles  me;  I 
fear  I  have  not  paid  enough  for  her." 

Once  a  fellow  citizen  who  had  done  that  which  so 
outraged  his  strong  sense  of  justice  that,  as  was  his 
way  in  such  cases,  he  seldom  mentioned  the  man's 
name  (perhaps  because  the  subject  was  painful  to 
him),  was  accused  of  serious  wrong  doing  and  made 
the  subject  of  public  investigation.  Father,  while 
reading  his  morning  paper  one  day,  suddenly  ex- 
claimed, "  They  are  doing  injustice.  I  can  not 
stand  that."  He  promptly  addressed  a  note  to  the 
gentleman,  suggesting  that,  if  his  testimony  would 
serve  the  cause  of  justice  nothing  which  had  taken 
place  need  hinder  his  being  summoned  as  a  witness. 
His  offer  was  of  course  promtly  accej^ted. 

Father's  religious  life  was  emotional;  but  neither 
he  nor  those  who  knew  him  best  ever  thought  of  it 
in  that  way,  because  it  was  far  more  than  anything 
else  practical.  His  prayers  were  by  no  means  formal 
or    stereotyped,    but    certain  expressions  did   often 


THE  CLOSING  YEARS  3-19 

recur  and  were  uttered  in  tones  which  expressed  very 
strong  emotion.  He  would  say  in  the  chajjel,  "Grant 
Lord,  if  it  be  thy  will,  that  this  institution  may  be  a 
copious  fountain  of  blessing  to  many  generations. 
But  whether  it  is  copious  or  not,  may  it  at  least  be 
pure."  He  would  pray  in  his  family,  "  Lord,  grant 
that,  whether  we  are  rich  or  poor,  honored  or  forgot- 
ten, no  child  of  this  family  may  be  found  fighting 
against  God  or  become  an  enemy  of  His  kingdom  on 
earth." 

May  those  prayers  be  fulfilled  in  all  the  future  of 
Illinois  College,  and  to  the  very  last  generation  of  his 
descendants. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  URBANA 

B  S936S1  C0D1 

JULIAN  M   STURTEVANT  NEW  YORK 


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